Standard Lemma guide

paraphyletic

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adj

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Qualifier: systematics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: parafilètic — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Dutch: parafyletisch — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Finnish: parafyleettinen — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • French: paraphylétique — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Georgian: პარაფილეტური (ṗarapileṭuri) — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • German: paraphyletisch — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Occitan: parafiletic — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Portuguese: parafilético — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Russian: парафилетический (parafiletičeskij) — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Spanish: parafilético — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
  • Vietnamese: cận ngành — Excluding some descendants of the most recent common ancestor
Real reading context

paraphyletic in complete knowledge articles