Taxonomy
[tak-SAH-nə-mee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: French, early 19th century
1.
The branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.
2.
The classification of something, especially organisms.
Examples of Taxonomy in a sentence
"Animal taxonomy moves from general to specific characteristics."
"In order to pass her botany examination, Kelly needed familiarity with plant taxonomy."
About Taxonomy
Taxonomy came into French use via Greek — specifically, a combination of the Greek words “taxis” ("arrangement") + “nomia” ("distribution").
Did you Know?
While "taxonomy" can be used to describe the general classification of anything, it is most often used to describe living organisms. Biologists classify living things by domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species, with each subsequent classification growing more specific. For example, a dog can be classified as Eukarya, Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Canidae, Canis, and lupus (species in taxonomy names are not capitalized).
