non-monophyletic
|non-mon-o-phy-let-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌnɑnˌmɑnəfaɪˈlɛtɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌnɒnˌmɒnəfaɪˈlɛtɪk/
not a single evolutionary origin
Etymology
'non-monophyletic' is formed from the English negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non', meaning 'not') combined with 'monophyletic', which comes from Greek elements 'mono-' (from Greek 'monos', meaning 'single') and 'phyletic' (from Greek 'phylon', meaning 'tribe, race').
'monophyletic' was coined in scientific/Neo-Latin contexts in the 19th–20th centuries from Greek roots and entered English as a biological technical term; the prefix 'non-' was later attached in English to indicate negation, yielding 'non-monophyletic'.
The compound initially and consistently meant 'not forming a single evolutionary lineage (not a clade)'; this technical meaning has been stable in biological usage.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not monophyletic; not forming a clade — a group that does not share a single common ancestor to the exclusion of others (i.e., includes organisms from multiple evolutionary lineages).
The study showed that the genus was non-monophyletic and needed taxonomic revision.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/12/21 05:45