Genetic distance
- Pronunciation
- /JEH-net-ik dis-tance/
- Category
- Population genetics
- Plural
- Genetic distances
Definition
A measure of the evolutionary divergence between two groups of organisms. It reflects the amount of genetic difference accumulated over time.
Etymology
From 'genetic' and 'distance'.
Example
The genetic distance between humans and chimpanzees is relatively small, indicating a recent common ancestry.