Cladograms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A graphical representation that illustrates evolutionary relationships among various species or groups based on genetic or morphological similarities
2. A branching diagram that depicts the hypothesized evolutionary ancestry of different organisms, highlighting their common ancestors
3. A schematic tree-like structure that organizes biological taxa in relation to evolutionary divergence and lineage relationships

Etymology: "Cladograms" is the plural of "cladogram," a diagram showing how organisms are grouped by shared descent, branching like a family tree. The word is built from two parts: "clado-," from Greek "klados," meaning "branch" or "twig," and "-gram," from Greek "gramma," meaning "something written or drawn." Put together, the term literally means a drawing of branches. The first element, "klados," is the same Greek root behind words like "clade," a group of organisms descended from a single common ancestor. The second element appears in familiar words such as "diagram" and "telegram," so the suffix carries the sense of a drawn or written record. The compound is a modern technical coinage, so the Greek roots were combined by biologists rather than used together in antiquity. Because the parts are transparent, a reader who knows the roots can work out the meaning directly from the word.

Synonyms: phylogenetic trees, family trees