Etymology

apomorphy

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Today it means: A derived characteristic of a clade. Any feature novel to a species and its descendants. Full definition →

Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ) ← English apo- ← Proto-Hellenic *apó
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
  3. Proto-Hellenic*apó
  4. Ancient Greekᾰ̓πό (ăpó)
  5. Ancient Greekᾰ̓πο- (ăpo-)
  6. Englishapo-
  7. Ancient Greekμορφή (morphḗ)
  8. English todayapomorphy

From apo- + -morphy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.