monomorphic
|mo-no-mor-phic|
🇺🇸
/ˌmɑnəˈmɔrfɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌmɒnəˈmɔːfɪk/
single form
Etymology
'monomorphic' originates from Greek, specifically the words 'monos' and 'morphe', where 'monos' meant 'single' and 'morphe' meant 'form'.
'monomorphic' was formed via New Latin/Modern scientific coinage from Greek 'monomorphos' (literally 'single-formed'), passing into scientific Latin and then into English as 'monomorphic'.
Initially it literally meant 'single-shaped' or 'having one form'; over time it has retained that basic sense but became specialized in fields like biology (single form) and mathematics (relating to a monomorphism/injective map).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
having a single form or morphology; not polymorphic — used in biology and zoology to describe species or populations that show little or no morphological variation.
Many island birds are monomorphic, showing little variation in size or color between individuals.
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Adjective 2
relating to or having the property of a monomorphism (in mathematics and category theory): typically describing a map or morphism that is injective or left-cancellative in the given context.
In this category the inclusion map is monomorphic, so different elements are not identified by the morphism.
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Last updated: 2025/08/24 18:05