morpho-, morph-, -morphous, -morphically, -morphia, -morphosis, -morphously, -morphy, -morphic, -morphism +

(Greek: shape, form, figure, appearance)

Origins of morpho- words

The Roman god of sleep is Somnus; so, when we are sleepy, we are "somnolent". Sleep walking is "somnambulism" which in Latin means exactly the same thing; that is, "sleepwalking".

The son of Somnus is Morpheus, the god of dreams, indicating that sleep gives birth to dreams. Morpheus goes back through Latin to the Greek word for "form" or "shape" because dreams are forms and shapes developed in the mind while sleeping.

—Compiled from
Words from the Myths by Isaac Asimov;
Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston; 1961; pages 43-44.
plesiomorphic
Similar in form.
plesiomorphism
1. Similarity in form.
2. Close to or nearly the same shape.
plesiomorphous
1. Nearly alike in form.
2. Characterized by a form which is similar or like another one.
plesiomorphy
An ancestral or primitive character.

An evolutionary trait that is homologous within a particular group of organisms but is not unique to members of that group and therefore cannot be used as a diagnostic or defining character for the group.

For example, vertebrae are found in zebras, cheetahs, and orangutans; but the common ancestor in which this trait first evolved is so distant that the trait is shared by many other animals. As a result, possession of vertebrae sheds no light on the phylogenetic relations of these three species.

polymorph
An animal or plant that has several different adult forms.
polymorphic system
In computer technology, referring to a computer system in which major parts or units are held in a common pool, assigned to executing programs based on need, and returned to the pool when they are no longer needed.
polymorphic, polymorphous
1. A reference to something occurring in several or many forms.
2. Relating to what appears in different forms at different stages of development.
polymorphism
1. In zoology, the characteristics of assuming or passing through several forms, as an animal exhibiting seasonal changes in coloration.
2. In mineralogy, the occurrence in a mineral of two or more distinct crystal forms of identical chemical composition.
promorphologist
Someone who considers organisms and their parts geometrically.
promorphology
1. The branch of morphology that studies the forms of organisms from a mathematical point of view.
2. In biology, the morphology of organic forms with reference to mathematical figures or to a few fundamental types of structure.

The mathematical conception or geometrical treatment of organic forms.

pseudomorph
1. A false, deceptive, or irregular form or shape.
2. A mineral that has the crystalline form of another mineral rather than the form normally characteristic of its own composition.
pseudomorphic
1. A reference to an altered mineral whose crystal form has the outward appearance of another mineral species.
2. A descriptive term referring to a deceptive or an irregular form.
pseudomorphism
1. An irregular or unclassifiable form.
pseudomorphose
To change by pseudomorphism.
pseudomorphosis
1. The state of having a form, usually crystalline, different from that proper to the mineral; the process by which this state is brought about.
2. Conversion into a false or deceptive form; by transformation, or forced into an abnormal formation.

Inter-related cross references, directly or indirectly, involving word units dealing with "form, shape, appearance": eido-; figur-; form-; icono-; ideo-; imag-; -oid; typo-.