Skip to the word

Added 10 October 2026

paraphyletic

adjective

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). More about paraphyletic at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Of a defined group of taxa: not including all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of all members.

Origin

From para- (“near”) + Ancient Greek φῦλον (phûlon, “tribe, race”) + -etic.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word