species definition | Dictionary.com

spe⋅cies

[spee-sheez, -seez]

noun, plural -cies, adjective

–noun

1.	a class of individuals having some common characteristics or qualities; distinct sort or kind.

2.	Biology. the major subdivision of a genus or subgenus, regarded as the basic category of biological classification, composed of related individuals that resemble one another, are able to breed among themselves, but are not able to breed with members of another species.

Logic.

a.	one of the classes of things included with other classes in a genus.

b.	the set of things within one of these classes.

Ecclesiastical.

a.	the external form or appearance of the bread or the wine in the Eucharist.

b.	either of the Eucharistic elements.

5.	Obsolete. specie; coin.

6.	the species, the human race; mankind: a study of the species.

–adjective

7.	Horticulture. pertaining to a plant that is a representative member of a species, one that is not a hybrid or variety: a species rose; a species gladiolus.

Origin:
1545–55; < L speciēs appearance, form, sort, kind, equiv. to spec(ere) to look, regard + -iēs abstract n. suffix

spe⋅cie

1 [spee-shee, -see]

–noun

1.	coined money; coin.

—Idiom

in specie,

a.	in the same kind.

b.	(of money) in coin.

c.	in a similar manner; in kind: Such treachery should be repaid in specie.

d.	Law. in the identical shape, form, etc., as specified.

Origin:
1545–55; < L (in) speciē (in) kind; see species

spe⋅cie

2 [spee-shee, -see]

–noun Nonstandard.

species.

Origin:
by back formation, construing species as pl. n.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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spe·cie (spē'shē, -sē)

n. Coined money; coin.

[From (in) specie, (in) the actual form, from Latin (in) speciē, (in) kind, ablative of speciēs; see species.]

spe·cies (spē'shēz, -sēz)

n. pl. species

Biology
1. A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding. See Table at taxonomy.
2. An organism belonging to such a category, represented in binomial nomenclature by an uncapitalized Latin adjective or noun following a capitalized genus name, as in Ananas comosus, the pineapple, and Equus caballus, the horse.
3. A kind, variety, or type: "No species of performing artist is as self-critical as a dancer" (Susan Sontag).
4. The human race; humankind.
5. The outward appearance or form of the Eucharistic elements that is retained after their consecration.
6. Either of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist.
7. An outward form or appearance.
8. Specie.
Logic A class of individuals or objects grouped by virtue of their common attributes and assigned a common name; a division subordinate to a genus.
1. A kind, variety, or type: "No species of performing artist is as self-critical as a dancer" (Susan Sontag).
2. The human race; humankind.
3. The outward appearance or form of the Eucharistic elements that is retained after their consecration.
4. Either of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist.
5. An outward form or appearance.
6. Specie.
Roman Catholic Church
1. The outward appearance or form of the Eucharistic elements that is retained after their consecration.
2. Either of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist.
3. An outward form or appearance.
4. Specie.
Obsolete
1. An outward form or appearance.
2. Specie.

[Middle English, logical classification, from Latin speciēs, a seeing, kind, form; see spek- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Species

Spe"cies\, n. sing. & pl. [L., a sight, outward appearance, shape, form, a particular sort, kind, or quality, a species. See Spice, n., and cf. Specie, Special.]

1. Visible or sensible presentation; appearance; a sensible percept received by the imagination; an image. [R.] "The species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet." --Sir I. Newton.

Wit, . . . the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of those things which it designs to represent. --Dryden.

Note: In the scholastic philosophy, the species was sensible and intelligible. The sensible species was that in any material, object which was in fact discerned by the mind through the organ of perception, or that in any object which rendered it possible that it should be perceived. The sensible species, as apprehended by the understanding in any of the relations of thought, was called an intelligible species. "An apparent diversity between the species visible and audible is, that the visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth." --Bacon.

2. (Logic) A group of individuals agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes, and extending to fewer individuals. Thus, man is a species, under animal as a genus; and man, in its turn, may be regarded as a genus with respect to European, American, or the like, as species.

3. In science, a more or less permanent group of existing things or beings, associated according to attributes, or properties determined by scientific observation.

Note: In mineralogy and chemistry, objects which possess the same definite chemical structure, and are fundamentally the same in crystallization and physical characters, are classed as belonging to a species. In zo["o]logy and botany, a species is an ideal group of individuals which are believed to have descended from common ancestors, which agree in essential characteristics, and are capable of indefinitely continued fertile reproduction through the sexes. A species, as thus defined, differs from a variety or subspecies only in the greater stability of its characters and in the absence of individuals intermediate between the related groups.

4. A sort; a kind; a variety; as, a species of low cunning; a species of generosity; a species of cloth.

5. Coin, or coined silver, gold, ot other metal, used as a circulating medium; specie. [Obs.]

There was, in the splendor of the Roman empire, a less quantity of current species in Europe than there is now. --Arbuthnot.

6. A public spectacle or exhibition. [Obs.] --Bacon.

7. (Pharmacy) (a) A component part of compound medicine; a simple. (b) (Med.) An officinal mixture or compound powder of any kind; esp., one used for making an aromatic tea or tisane; a tea mixture. --Quincy.

8. (Civil Law) The form or shape given to materials; fashion or shape; form; figure. --Burill.

Incipient species (Zo["o]l.), a subspecies, or variety, which is in process of becoming permanent, and thus changing to a true species, usually by isolation in localities from which other varieties are excluded.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : species

Spanish: especie,

German: die Art,

Japanese: 種

More Translations »

species [(spee-sheez, spee-seez)]

A group of closely related and interbreeding living things; the smallest standard unit of biological classification. Species can be divided into varieties, races, breeds, or subspecies. Red pines, sugar maples, cats, dogs, chimpanzees, and people are species; Siamese cats and beagles are varieties, not species. (See Linnean classification.)

Note: The term can be used to refer to any group of related things: “This species of novel has become quite popular in recent years.”

species

1551, a classification in logic, from L. species "kind, sort," originally "appearance, sight, a seeing," related to specere "to look at, to see, behold," from PIE *spek- (see scope (1)). Biological sense is from 1608. Endangered species first attested 1964. Speciesism "discrimination against certain animals based on assumption of human superiority" first attested 1975 in Richard D. Ryder's "Victims of Science."

Main Entry: spe·cies
Pronunciation: 'spE-(")shEz, -(")sEz
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural species
1 a : a categoryof biological classification ranking immediately below the genus or subgenus, comprising related organisms or populations potentially capable of interbreeding, and being designated by a binomial thatconsists of the name of the genus followed by a Latin or latinized uncapitalized noun or adjective agreeing grammatically with the genus name b : an individual or kind belonging to abiological species
2 : a particular kind of atomic nucleus, atom, molecule, or ion species>

species spe·cies (spē'shēz, -sēz)
n. pl. species

A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding.
An organism belonging to such a category, represented in binomial nomenclature by an uncapitalized Latin adjective or noun following a capitalized genus name, as in the bacterium Escherichia coli.
A class of pharmaceutical preparations consisting of a mixture of dried plants in sufficiently fine division to be used in making boiled extracts or infusions.
A specific type of atomic nucleus, atom, ion, or molecule.

species (spē'shēz, spē'sēz) Pronunciation Key
A group of organisms having many characteristics in common and ranking below a genus. Organisms that reproduce sexually and belong to the same species interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Species names are usually written lower case and in italics, as rex in Tyrannosaurus rex. See Table at taxonomy.

species

see endangered species.

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