Holomorphic Function - Terminology

Terminology

The word "holomorphic" was introduced by two of Cauchy's students, Briot (1817–1882) and Bouquet (1819–1895), and derives from the Greek ὅλος (holos) meaning "entire", and μορφή (morphē) meaning "form" or "appearance".

Today, the term "holomorphic function" is sometimes preferred to "analytic function", as the latter is a more general concept. This is also because an important result in complex analysis is that every holomorphic function is complex analytic, a fact that does not follow directly from the definitions. The term "analytic" is however also in wide use.