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.
ichthyomorpha, ichthyomorphic
1. Fish-shaped; formed like a fish.
2. Fish-shaped; as, the ichthyomorphic idols of ancient Assyria.
ichthyomorphous
Fish-shaped, fishlike; as, ichthyomorphic idols
idiomorphic, idiomorphous, idiomorphism
1. The state or quality of having a peculiar or characteristic form; uniqueness, or individuality in form.
2. Having its own characteristic form; specifically, having its characteristic crystallographic faces:;said of one of the constituent minerals of a rock.
isomorph, isomorphism
1. Superficial similarity between individuals of different species or races.
2. Equal in form; crystallizing in the same form.
3. A line in a linguistic atlas connecting places exhibiting identical or nearly identical morphological forms; a morphological isogloss.
4. A substance or organism that exhibits similarity in form or appearance to others.
5. An animal, plant, or group having superficial similarity to another; although phylogenetically different.
isomorphic
1. Having the same form or appearance as another organism or the same organism at a different stage in its life cycle.
2. A description of mathematical sets with a one-to-one correspondence so that an operation; such as, addition or multiplication in one produces the same result as the analogous operation in the other.
3. Having a similar structure or appearance but being of a different ancestry.
isomorphous
Used to describe a chemical compound that is able to crystallize in a form similar to another chemical compound.
karyomorphism, caryomorphism; karyomorphic
The form or shape of a cell nucleus; especially, that of a leukocyte.
katamorphic
A reference to change in the structure of rock by natural agencies; such as, pressure or heat or introduction of new chemical substances that occurs at or near the earth's surface.
katamorphism, zone of katamorphism
1. Metamorphism that occurs at or near the earth's surface where it breaks down complex minerals into simpler ones.
2. At or near the earth's surface or the outer zone of the solid earth in which the alterations of rocks result in the production of simple compounds from more complex ones.

It is subdivided into an "outer belt of weathering" and an "inner belt of cementation".

leptomorphology
The science of the structure and the form of membranes.
leptonomorphology
The morphology (form and structure of) of membranes.
lipomorph, lipomorphic
1. A group that characterizes a particular district by its absence from it.
2. Bears and deer are "lipomorphs" of Africa south of the Atlas, and Felis or cats in Australia.
3. Also known as lipotype.
matromorphic
A child who has more of the mother's shape or form than that of the father.
meromorphosis
The partial regeneration of a lost body part.
mesomorph
1. A husky muscular body, or someone who has such a body.
2. An individual with a robust, muscular body build caused by the predominance of structures developed from the embryonic mesodermal layer.
3. An individual having a type of body build in which tissues derived from the mesoderm predominate.

There is a relative preponderance of muscle, bone, and connective tissue, usually with a heavy, hard physique; a somatotype (body type) classified between ectomorph (physiological type that is tall with long lean limbs) and endomorph (a stocky build with a prominent abdomen).

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