phylogeny
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from German Phylogenie, coined by Ernst Haeckel in 1866, a neologism created as if borrowed from a Classic Greek word φυλογένεια (phulogéneia), composed from Ancient Greek φῦλον (phûlon, “tribe, genus, species”) + Ancient Greek -γένεια (-géneia, “-geny (generation, production)”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
phylogeny (countable and uncountable, plural phylogenies)
- (systematics) The evolutionary history of groups of organisms, such as species or clades.
- 2022, Paul McAuley, Beyond the Burn Line, Gollancz, page 43:
- It was a bestiary more than a hundred years old, its entries organised by a quaintly outdated phylogeny and illustrated with hand-tinted plates.
- (systematics, informal) A phylogenetic diagram.
- The historical development of a human social or racial group.
- Understanding the phylogeny of this musical group helps us understand its music.
- The historical development of any thing, idea, etc.
- 2010, The Journey of Child Development, →ISBN:
- Indeed, in a recent review article, Mithen (2009) traces the phylogeny of human communication […]
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
evolutionary history of an organism
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See also edit
Further reading edit
- “phylogeny”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.