analogous

Meaning

Adjective

• Having analogy; corresponding to something else; bearing some resemblance or proportion (often followed by "to".)
• Functionally similar, but arising through convergent evolution rather than being homologous.

Origin

• From Latin analogus, from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́λογος. The application to similar features of organisms is nearly as old as the general sense. Recognizably modern uses of the second sense, distinguishing analagous from homologous, appear in the mid-19th century.