Word.ws English Dictionary

homophyly

homophyly noun: that form of homology due to common ancestry (phylogenetic homology), in opposition to homomorphy, to which genealogic basis is wanting.

Noun

homophyly (usually uncountable, plural homophylies)

  1. (archaic, usually) That form of homology due to common ancestry (phylogenetic homology), in opposition to homomorphy, to which genealogic basis is wanting.
    • The concept of homophyly suggests that people who share similar backgrounds are more likely to feel comfortable with each other1997, Alfred Kadushin, Goldie Kadushin, The Social Work Interview: Fourth Edition

Forms of homophyly

pluralhomophylies

Origin of homophyly

homo- + Ancient Greek φυλή (phulḗ, “clan”) + -y.

Words formed from homophyly

Questions about homophyly

What does homophyly mean?
Homophyly means that form of homology due to common ancestry (phylogenetic homology), in opposition to homomorphy, to which genealogic basis is wanting.
What part of speech is homophyly?
Homophyly is a noun.
What is the plural of homophyly?
The plural of homophyly is homophylies.

Words near homophyly in the dictionary

  1. homophyletic
  2. homophylic
  3. homophylies
  4. homophyllous
  5. homophylly
  6. homophyly
  7. homopiperazine
  8. homopiperazines
  9. homopiperazinium
  10. homopiperonylamine
  11. homopipramol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: homophyly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “homophyly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/homophyly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.