phylogeny
Americannoun
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the development or evolution of a particular group of organisms.
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the evolutionary history of a group of organisms, especially as depicted in a family tree.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of phylogeny
Explanation
Use the noun phylogeny to describe the branch of biology that focuses on evolution and the differences between species. You're most likely to come across the word phylogeny in a biology class. It's another term for "phylogenetics," the study of evolution, diversity, and the way different organisms and species are related to each other. The German biologist Ernst Heinrich Haeckel was the first to use the word phylogeny, in 1866, and Darwin used it soon after. It combines the Greek phylos, "race," with geneia, "origin."
Vocabulary lists containing phylogeny
Evolutionary Biology - High School
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Evolutionary Biology - Middle School
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Evolutionary BIology - Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Since the behavioral data did not always align perfectly with the species in that phylogeny, the researchers simplified the evolutionary tree to 44 genera, along with five families and one superfamily.
From Science Daily ● May 2, 2026
"It describes a new genus and species, but places them in the phylogeny of tardigrades," Nelson told Salon.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2024
Quattrini and her collaborators created this map of evolutionary relationships, or phylogeny, using genetic data from 185 species of octocorals.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2024
Evolutionary biologists could list many reasons why understanding phylogeny is important to everyday life in human society.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
But in these writings his main argument is that of his concluding chapter: the spontaneous adaptiveness of the organism, which nullifies all contingent theories to explain the purposiveness in ontogeny and phylogeny.
From Naturalism And Religion by Rudolf Otto
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
