isomorphic

English

WOTD – 6 November 2013, 6 November 2014

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek ῐ̓́σος (ĭ́sos)lbor.

English iso-

Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ)

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -iquebor.

Middle English -ik

English -ic

English -morphic

English isomorphic

From iso- + -morphic.

isomorphic (not comparable)

(mathematics) Related by an isomorphism; having a structure-preserving one-to-one correspondence.
- 2003, Bernd Siegfried Walter Schröder, Ordered Sets: An Introduction, page 254:
  Let A, B be the ordered sets in Figure 10.3. Let C be the direct product of infinitely many copies of the two element chain 2. Then A^C is isomorphic to B^C, but A is not isomorphic to B.
(biology) Having a similar structure or function to something that is not related genetically or through evolution.
- 1993, Marcus Jacobson, Foundations of Neuroscience, page 106:
  The fact that different structures can be shown to be functionally isomorphic implies that they are analogous, not homologous.
Having identical relevant structure; being structure-preserving while undergoing certain invertible transformations.
- 1981, John Lyons, Language and Linguistics: An Introduction, page 60:
  For example, in so far as written and spoken English are isomorphic (i.e. have the same structure), they are the same language: there is nothing but their structure that they have in common.
(programming) Able to run either client-side or server-side.
an isomorphic JavaScript app

In mathematics, this adjective can be used in phrases like “A and B are isomorphic”, “A is isomorphic to B”, and, less commonly, “A is isomorphic with B”.

(mathematics) related by an isomorphism

(biology) having a similar structure or function without genetic relation

having identical relevant structure