monophyly
|mon-o-phy-ly|
🇺🇸
/ˌmɑnəˈfɪli/
🇬🇧
/ˌmɒnəˈfɪli/
single ancestral origin
Etymology
'monophyly' originates from Neo-Latin/modern scientific coinage, ultimately from Greek elements, specifically from Greek 'monos' and 'phylē', where 'mono-' meant 'single' and 'phylē' meant 'tribe' or 'race'.
'monophyly' was coined in modern biological usage (19th–20th century) from Greek roots via Neo-Latin formation (e.g. Neo-Latin/modern coinages like 'monophyletic'), and entered English as a technical term in systematics and cladistics.
Initially used to indicate descent from a single ancestral stock in comparative biology; it has remained technical and now specifically denotes forming a clade in modern phylogenetics.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the condition or state of a group of organisms having a single common ancestor; forming a clade (i.e., all descendants of a common ancestor).
Monophyly is a key concept in cladistics: a monophyletic group contains an ancestor and all its descendants.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/12/21 06:07