Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cladistics

/kləˈdɪs.tɪks/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.47 in modern English

Syllables: cladis-tics
IPA: /kləˈdɪs.tɪks/

15

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

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.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Here we suggest emphasis on the techniques of cladistics (Eldredge and Cracraft 1980; Wiley 1981; Coddington 1988) because they provide a clear means of organizing phylogenetic information in branching diagrams."
"The construction of branching patterns to map evolutionary change is called cladistics, and the devising of higher classifications (genus and up) to conform with the results of cladistics is called phylogenetic systematics.[…]Cladistics does allow us to judge which species are most likely to share a common ancestor, validating their placement in the same genus or family or higher taxon."
"2001, Clare Bates Congdon, Gaphyl: A Genetic Algorithms Approach to Cladistics, Luc de Raedt, Arno Siebes (editors), Principles of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery: 5th European Conference PKDD 2001, Volume 5, Springer, LNAI 2168, page 67, This research investigates the use of genetic algorithms to solve problems from cladistics — a technique used by biologists to hypothesize the relationships between organisms."

Etymology

Etymology tree English clade Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English -istic English cladistics From clade + -istic, from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch”).

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Root: κλάδος

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /kləˈdɪs.tɪks/

Usage

Uncountable

Derived Forms

astrocladistics patrocladistics

Frequently Paired Words

clade cladistic phenetics phylogenetic

Synonyms

cladistic analysis

Questions

How do you pronounce cladistics?: The recorded pronunciation is /kləˈdɪs.tɪks/.
What does cladistics mean?: 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.
Where does cladistics come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce cladistics

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cladistics”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/kləˈdɪs.tɪks/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cladistics”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cladistics” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.