scientific name

American  

[sahy-uhn-tif-ik naym] / ˈsaɪ ənˌtɪf ɪk ˈneɪm /

noun

scientific names plural

1. the name used by scientists for a particular organism, consisting of the genus name followed by the species name, conventionally in italics and with the genus name spelled with a capital letter, the species name with a lower-case letter; taxonomic name, binomial nomenclature.

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scientific name Scientific  

/ sī′ən-tĭf′ĭk /

1. A name used by scientists, especially the taxonomic name of an organism that consists of the genus and species. Scientific names usually come from Latin or Greek. An example is Homo sapiens, the scientific name for humans.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• scientific naming
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• scientific names
  plural

Example Sentences

Each newly discovered species must be given a scientific name, and researchers often draw inspiration from people, experiences, or even popular culture.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2026

The frog was logged under specimen number KU 221832 and given the scientific name Dendrobates duellmani.

From Science Daily • Jan. 6, 2026

Eventually the arm were identified as belonging to a seven-arm octopus, which has the scientific name Haliphron atlanticus.

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2025

When researchers discovered a gecko that reminded them of the paintings of van Gogh, they gave it the scientific name Cnemaspis vangoghi.

From Salon • Sep. 20, 2024

The scientific name for the “corn” that was cultivated in the Americas is Zea mays.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz