Linnaeus

American

[li-nee-uhs] / lɪˈni əs /

noun

Carolus Carl von Linné, 1707–78, Swedish botanist.

Linnaeus British

/ -ˈneɪ-, lɪˈniːəs /

noun

Carolus (ˈkærələs), original name Carl von Linné. 1707–78, Swedish botanist, who established the binomial system of biological nomenclature that forms the basis of modern classification

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Linnaeus Scientific

/ lĭ-nē′əs,lĭ-nā′əs /

Swedish naturalist who in 1735 introduced a method for classifying plants and animals using generic and specific designations. This laid the foundation for the modern system of binomial nomenclature.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Roughly three centuries ago, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus set out to catalog and name every living organism he could find.

From Science Daily • Dec. 24, 2025

“We’ve been lucky to do this study now,” said Stefan Gössling, the lead author and a professor of tourism research at Linnaeus University in Sweden.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2024

Linnaeus Tripe arrived in India in 1839 at the age of 17, joining the Madras regiment of the East India Company.

From BBC • Aug. 31, 2024

In 1758, the Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus described a single species of giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis.

From New York Times • Feb. 19, 2024

He told me about Linnaeus and his system for naming all living things in Nature and how we still followed this system whenever we named a new species.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023