trivial name
Americannoun
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the common name used in everyday language to refer to an organism or to a chemical element or compound, such as dog for Canis familiaris or vinegar for acetic acid.
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Biology. specific epithet.
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A common or vernacular name as distinguished from a scientific name, as chimpanzee for Pan troglodytes.
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A common, historic, or convenient name for a substance. The trivial name is often derived from the source in which the substance was discovered. It is not systematic and is not used in modern official nomenclature. Sucrose is the trivial name for β - D -fructofuranosyl- α - D -glucopyranoside.
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Compare chemical name
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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.
Speaking on his first visit to Wales since his appointment, he said he had been in the post ten days and would not submit to "trivial" name tests.
From BBC • Oct. 2, 2015
Kew. assigning to it a new specific description, and a new trivial name: our drawing was made from a plant which flowered in the stove of Messrs. Grimwood and Co.
From The Botanical Magazine Vol. 7 or, Flower-Garden Displayed by Curtis, William
Also, the trivial name of the baggety, an ugly fish, likewise called the sea-owl, Cyclopterus lumpus.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir
This species takes its' trivial name of sessile, from the flowers having no footstalk, but sitting as it were immediately on the end of the stalk.
From The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 2 or Flower-Garden Displayed by Curtis, William
It is black, but with a buff snout, and buff rings round the eyes, which give it that appearance whence it derives its trivial name.
From Quadrupeds, What They Are and Where Found A Book of Zoology for Boys by Harvey, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
