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phylum

[ fahy-luhm ]

noun

, plural phy·la [fahy, -l, uh].
  1. Biology. the primary subdivision of a taxonomic kingdom, grouping together all classes of organisms that have the same body plan.
  2. Linguistics. a category consisting of language stocks that, because of cognates in vocabulary, are considered likely to be related by common origin. Compare stock ( def 13 ).


phylum

/ ˈfaɪləm /

noun

  1. a major taxonomic division of living organisms that contain one or more classes. An example is the phylum Arthropoda (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, etc, and myriapods)
  2. any analogous group, such as a group of related language families or linguistic stocks
“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


phylum

/ ləm /

, Plural phyla

  1. A group of organisms ranking above a class and below a kingdom.
  2. See Table at taxonomy


phylum

  1. plur. phyla One of the major divisions of the kingdoms of living things; the second-largest standard unit of biological classification. The arthropods , chordates , and mollusks are phyla. Phyla in the plant kingdom are frequently called divisions. ( See Linnean classification .)


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Other Words From

  • phylar adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of phylum1

1875–80; < New Latin < Greek phŷlon tribe, stock; phylon
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Word History and Origins

Origin of phylum1

C19: New Latin, from Greek phulon race
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Example Sentences

Discovered in China, a roughly 520-million-year-old fossil of the newly identified worm, dubbed Wufengella, might be the missing link between three of the phyla that constitute a cadre of sea creatures called lophophorates.

The cicada attackers are in a whole different phylum, “way lower” on the fungal tree of life.

As a result, he and his colleagues believe that the phylum containing the new species actually makes up a supergroup — a category bigger than a kingdom.

“It’s twofold interesting — it’s a new phylum and a new metabolism,” says Luke McKay, a microbial ecologist of extreme environments at Montana State University in Bozeman.

The entire phylum of what they do is called “hedging risk,” not diving into it.

Differentiation within the vertebrate phylum is therefore not uniserial, but takes place in several directions.

The higher animals begin with the twelfth phylum, namely, the Chordata, or vertebrates.

The leech is a fresh-water parasitic invertebrate belonging to the Phylum Annelida.

What applies to the vertebrate phylum applies also to the invertebrate groups.

What evidence is there as to the origin of the bony skeleton in the vertebrate phylum itself?

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