Etymology

cladistics

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Today it means: An approach to biological systematics in which organisms are grouped based upon synapomorphies (shared derived characteristics) only, and not upon symplesiomorphies (shared ancestral characteristics); a method of classifying organisms based on their evolutionary relationships instead of superficial characteristics. Full definition →

Ancient Greek κλάδος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκλάδος“branch”
  2. English todaycladistics

From clade + -istic, from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch”).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekκλάδος all →

cladeacanthocladousclado-claduspolycladous

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.