Etymology: < German -phylie (in e.g. Morphophylie morphophyly n.) < Hellenistic Greek -ϕυλία (in e.g. ὁμοϕυλία : see homophyly n. at homo- comb. form 1) < ancient Greek ϕυλή tribe (see phyle n., phylum n.) + -ία -y suffix3.First recorded in a series of terms (blastophyly n. at blasto- comb. form , cormophyly n. at cormo- comb. form , histophyly n. at histo- comb. form , homophyly n. at homo- comb. form 1, morphophyly n., organophyly n., physiophyly n.) in the 1879 translation of Haeckel Anthropogenie (ed. 3) 1877 , where the first German ed. of 1874 had terms in -phylogenie (as Organophylogenie , Physiophylogenie , etc.; compare phylogeny n.). English formations are found from the early 20th cent., as polyphyly n., monophyly n. Compare phylo- comb. form, phyletic adj. Combining with first elements ultimately of Greek origin.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2020).