相そう似じ器き官かん

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Meanings

1

noun

analogous organ

biology

Biology term for organs that have similar functions but different evolutionary origins, e.g., insect wings and bird wings.

相inter-, mutual, together

似becoming, resemble, counterfeit

器utensil, vessel, receptacle

官bureaucrat, the government, organ

相そう同どう器き官かん
相同器官 (homologous organ) shares a common evolutionary origin but may have different functions, while 相似器官 (analogous organ) has a similar function but different origin.

Compound of 相似 (sōji, 'similarity, analogy') and 器官 (kikan, 'organ'). The term is a direct calque from Western biological terminology.