Etymology

homeobox

H4O1M3E1O1B3O1X8

Today it means: A short sequence of DNA that is shared by several genes involved in the morphogenesis of many organisms. Full definition →

English box ← Ancient Greek ὅμοιος (hómoios) ← Proto-Hellenic *homós
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*somHós
  3. Proto-Hellenic*homós
  4. Ancient Greekὁμός (homós)
  5. Ancient Greekὅμοιος (hómoios)
  6. Englishhomeo-
  7. Englishbox
  8. English todayhomeobox

From homeo- + box.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.