Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

polyphyletic

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.32 in modern English

Syllables: poly-phylet-ic
IPA

27

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having multiple ancestral sources; referring to a taxon that does not contain the most recent common ancestor of its members.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor. English poly- English phyletic English polyphyletic From poly- + phyletic.

Inflected Forms

more polyphyletic (comparative) most polyphyletic (superlative)

Derived Forms

polyphyletically

Frequently Paired Words

monophyletic paraphyletic

Synonyms

pleophyletic

Questions

What does polyphyletic mean?: Having multiple ancestral sources; referring to a taxon that does not contain the most recent common ancestor of its members.
Where does polyphyletic come from?: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor. English poly- English phyletic English polyphyletic From poly- + phyletic.

How to pronounce polyphyletic

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