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

Nouns

• scientific names
  plural

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scientific name

The swamp hen, known by its scientific name, Porphyrio martinica, is mostly found along the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean as well as parts of South America.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

But scientific naming follows a rule of priority: when the same species has been given more than one scientific name, the earliest valid name takes precedence.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

The scientific name for screwworm really struck me, because it’s Cochliomyia hominivorax, which translates to “man-eater.”

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

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

From Science Daily ● Jan. 6, 2026

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

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