homoplasy

Meanings

1. A correspondence between the parts or organs of different species acquired as the result of parallel evolution or convergence.
2. A correspondence between variants in different versions of texts acquired as the result of parallel evolution or convergence.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *somHós Proto-Hellenic *homós Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós)der. English homo- Proto-Hellenic *plátʰyō Proto-Hellenic *pláťťō? Ancient Greek πλᾰ́σσω (plắssō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Ancient Greek πλᾰ́σῐς (plắsĭs)der. New Latin -plasiabor. English -plasia English -plasy English homoplasy Coined by British zoologist Ray Lankester in 1870, from homo- + -plasy, formed from Ancient Greek ὁμός (homós, “similar, alike, the same”) and πλάσσω (plássō, “to shape, to mold”).