English
homologous
Homologous comes from Ancient Greek ὁμόλογος ‘agreeing, of one mind’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning…’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-1‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lóǵos1reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógos1reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὁμόλογος1homólogos‘agreeing, of one mind’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEhomologus1
- Englishearliest quotation 1655homologous1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English homologous
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Stanley, [Thales.] Chap[ter] VII. Of His Geometry.: “Of equiangle triangles, the ſides that are about equall…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-Wiktionary, English homologous‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to speak by carefully selecting one's words’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lóǵosWiktionary, English homologousreconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosWiktionary, English homologousreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὁμόλογοςWiktionary, English homologoushomólogos‘agreeing, of one mind’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEhomologusWiktionary, English homologous
- Englishearliest quotation 1655homologousWiktionary, English homologous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Stanley, [Thales.] Chap[ter] VII. Of His Geometry.: “Of equiangle triangles, the ſides that are about equall…”
A compound of ὁμός ‘same’ + λόγος ‘reason, reckoning’
Proto-Indo-European *sem- ‘together, one’
Proto-Indo-European *somHós ‘same, alike’
Proto-Hellenic *homós
Ancient Greek ὁμός ‘same’
Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’
Proto-Hellenic *lógos
Ancient Greek λόγος ‘reason, reckoning’
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning…’
election, collection, technology, lesson, select, elite, eligible, collect, elect, elegant, legion, coil, negligence, catalogue, negligible, negligent, leach, diligent, lexicon, lexical, cull, astrology, epilogue, dialectic, legation, alexia, lignite, lexis, lignin, gynecologist, cosmology, ineligibility, dialogic, 149 more
through Proto-Indo-European *lóǵos
archaeological, pathological, astrological, pathophysiology, psychopathology, neurophysiology, bacteriological, histopathology, 89 more
through Proto-Hellenic *lógos
logic, apology, trilogy, analogy, sociology, terminology, physiology, pathology, logos, logistic, prologue, archaeologist, monologue, eulogy, pathologist, epistemology, etymology, etiology, entomology, bacteriology, apologia, syllogism, bacteriologist, 109 more
Today it means
adj In corresponding proportion.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “homologous”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / homologous