An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1) The study of the form or → structure of anything.
2) The → form and structure of a whole entity under study.
3) Linguistics: The structure of → words in a → language, including patterns of → inflections and → derivation. The study and description of such structures.

From Gk. morphe "form, shape, outward appearance" + → -logy.

Rixt "shape, the way something is cast, as in founding," past stem of rixtan "to cast; to pour; to flow" (Mid.Pers. rēxtan and rēcitan "to flow;" Av. raēk- "to leave, set free; to yield, transfer," infinitive *ricyā; Mod.Pers; rig in morderig "heritage" (literally, "left by the dead"); cf. Skt. rinakti "he leaves," riti- "stream; motion, course;" L. rivus "stream, brook;" Old Church Slavic rēka "river;" Rus. reka "river;" Goth. rinnan "run, flow," rinno "brook;" O.E. ridh "stream." šenâsi, → -logy.

An observationally determined relationship between the → morphological classification of galaxies and the → environments in which they are located. Specifically, the morphology-density relation indicates that early-type galaxies (→ ETG) are preferentially located in high density environments, whereas late-type galaxies (→ LTG) are preferentially found in low density environments. Hence, spiral galaxies are rare in the high densities of clusters and are common in the lower density group environments. Early-type galaxies, on the other hand, are common in clusters and are rarely found in isolation.

→ morphology; → density; → relation.