Etymology
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cladistic (adj.)

1960, from clade + -istic. Related: Cladistics "systematic classification of life forms" (1965; see -ics).

Entries linking to cladistic

clade (n.)

"group of organisms evolved from a common ancestor," 1957, from Greek klados "young branch, offshoot of a plant, shoot broken off," from PIE *kele-, possibly from root *kel- "to strike, cut" (see holt).

-istic 
adjectival word-forming element, from French -istique or directly from Latin -isticus, from Greek -istikos, a compound of the adjectival suffix -ikos (see -ic) + the noun suffix -istes (see -ist).
-ics 
in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.), a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with Greek -ikos "pertaining to" (see -ic) to mean "matters relevant to" and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their English names before c. 1500, however, tend to be singular in form (arithmetic, logic, magic, music, rhetoric). The grammatical number of words in -ics (mathematics is/mathematics are) is a confused question.

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Dictionary entries near cladistic

clack

clad

claddagh

clade

cladism

cladistic

clafoutis

claim

claimant

clairaudience

clair-de-lune

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