meaning "same" and meaning "form" or "shape". However, the word was apparently introduced to mathematics due to a (mis)translation of German meaning "similar" to ?u?? meaning "same". The term "homomorphism" appeared as early as 1892, when it was attributed to the German mathematician Felix Klein (1849-1925).

Homomorphisms of vector spaces are also called linear maps, and their study is the subject of linear algebra.