species

Definitions

Latin species = «outward look, appearance, kind.» The biological sense (a species is a group sharing an appearance and able to breed together) is a specialized 17th-century usage; the original meaning was just «what something looks like.» So «species» is etymologically «the looking» — Linnaean biology adopted it as a technical term.

Why It Means This

Species is a quiet etymological surprise. Today it sounds like a purely scientific term — genus and species, endangered species, the human species. But the Latin word meant simply «outward appearance.» Things that look the same belong to one «species.» The 17th-century biologist Linnaeus borrowed the everyday Latin word and gave it taxonomic precision, but the original meaning lives on in «a species of joy» (a kind of joy) and «one species of problem» (one type of problem). The same root is also behind «special» (of a particular kind) and «specific.»

Common Collocations

• 1.endangered species濒危物种
• 2.species of一种……
• 3.invasive species入侵物种
• 4.new species新物种
• 5.extinct species灭绝物种

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Pandas are an endangered species.

• 2.

  Humans are the only species that uses written language.

• 3.

  That's a rare species of orchid.