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Webster 1913 Edition

Species

Spe′cies

,
Noun.
s
ing.
&
pl.
[L., a sight, outward appearance, shape, form, a particular sort, kind, or quality, a species. See
Spice
,
Noun.
, and cf.
Specie
,
Special
.]
1.
Visible or sensible presentation; appearance; a sensible percept received by the imagination; an image.
[R.]
“The species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet.”
Sir I. Newton.
Wit, . . . the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the
species
or ideas of those things which it designs to represent.
Dryden.
☞ In the scholastic philosophy, the species was sensible and intelligible. The sensible species was that in any material, object which was in fact discerned by the mind through the organ of perception, or that in any object which rendered it possible that it should be perceived. The sensible species, as apprehended by the understanding in any of the relations of thought, was called an intelligible species. “An apparent diversity between the species visible and audible is, that the visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth.”
Bacon.
2.
(Logic)
A group of individuals agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes, and extending to fewer individuals. Thus,
man
is a species, under
animal
as a genus; and man, in its turn, may be regarded as a genus with respect to
European
,
American
, or the like, as species.
3.
In science, a more or less permanent group of existing things or beings, associated according to attributes, or properties determined by scientific observation.
☞ In mineralogy and chemistry, objects which possess the same definite chemical structure, and are fundamentally the same in crystallization and physical characters, are classed as belonging to a species. In Zoology and botany, a species is an ideal group of individuals which are believed to have descended from common ancestors, which agree in essential characteristics, and are capable of indefinitely continued fertile reproduction through the sexes. A species, as thus defined, differs from a variety or subspecies only in the greater stability of its characters and in the absence of individuals intermediate between the related groups.
4.
A sort; a kind; a variety;
as, a
species
of low cunning; a
species
of generosity; a
species
of cloth.
5.
Coin, or coined silver, gold, or other metal, used as a circulating medium; specie.
[Obs.]
There was, in the splendor of the Roman empire, a less quantity of current
species
in Europe than there is now.
Arbuthnot.
6.
A public spectacle or exhibition.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
7.
(Pharmacy)
(a)
A component part of a compound medicine; a simple.
(b)
(Med.)
An officinal mixture or compound powder of any kind; esp., one used for making an aromatic tea or tisane; a tea mixture.
Quincy.
8.
(Civil Law)
The form or shape given to materials; fashion or shape; form; figure.
Burill.
Incipient species
(Zool.)
,
a subspecies, or variety, which is in process of becoming permanent, and thus changing to a true species, usually by isolation in localities from which other varieties are excluded.

Webster 1828 Edition

Species

SPECIES

,
Noun.
spe'shiz. [L. from specio, to see. See Special.]
1.
In zoology, a collection of organized beings derived from one common parentage by natural generation, characterized by one peculiar from one common parentage by natural generation, characterized by one peculiar form, liable to vary within certain narrow limits. These accidental and limited variations are varieties. Different races from the same parents are called varieties.
2.
In botany, all the plants which spring from the same see, or which resemble each other in certain character or in variable forms. There are as many species as there are different in variable forms or circumstances only with in certain narrow limits. These accidental and limited variations are varieties. Different races from the same parents are called varieties.
3.
In logic, a special idea, corresponding to the specific distinctions of things in nature.
4.
Sort; kind; in a loose sense; as a species of low cunning in the world; as a species of generosity; a species of cloth.
5.
Appearance to the senses; visible or sensible representation. An apparent diversity between the species visible and audible, is that the visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth. The species of letters illuminated with indigo and violet. [Little used.]
6.
Representation to the min. Wit-the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of those things which it designs to present. [Little used.]
7.
Show; visible exhibition. Shows and species serve best with the common people. [Not in use.]
8.
Coin, or coined silver and gold, used as a circulating medium; as the current species of Europe. In modern practice. this word is contracted into specie. What quantity of specie has the bank in its vault? What is the amount of all the current specie in the country? What is the value in specie, of a bill of exchange? We receive payment for goods in specie, not in bank notes.
9.
In pharmacy, a simple; a component part of a compound medicine.
10.
The old pharmaceutical term for powders.

Definition 2024

Species

Species

See also: species

German

Noun

Species f ‎(genitive Species, plural Species)

  1. Alternative form of Spezies

Declension

species

species

See also: Species

English

Noun

species ‎(plural species)

  1. A type or kind of thing.
    • Richard Holt Hutton (1826-1897)
      What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.
    1. A group of plants or animals having similar appearance.
      This species of animal is unique to the area.‎
      • 2012 January 1, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 70:
        Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.
    2. (taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below genus and above subspecies; a taxon at that rank.
      • 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species:
        Hence, in determining whether a form should be ranked as a species or a variety, the opinion of naturalists having sound judgment and wide experience seems the only guide to follow.
      • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii
        Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
      • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
        Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
    3. (mineralogy) A mineral with a unique chemical formula whose crystals belong to a unique crystallographic system.
  2. An image, an appearance, a spectacle.
    1. (obsolete) The image of something cast on a surface, or reflected from a surface, or refracted through a lens or telescope; a reflection.
      I cast the species of the Sun onto a sheet of paper through a telescope.‎
    2. Visible or perceptible presentation; appearance; something perceived.
      • John Dryden (1631-1700)
        Wit, […] the faculty of imagination in the writer, which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of those things which it designs to represent.
      • Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
        the species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet
    3. A public spectacle or exhibition.
      (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
  3. (Roman Catholicism) Either of the two elements of the Eucharist after they have been consecrated, so named because they retain the image of the bread and wine before their transubstantiation into the body and blood of Christ.
  4. Coin, or coined silver, gold, or other metal, used as a circulating medium; specie.
    • John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)
      There was, in the splendour of the Roman empire, a less quantity of current species in Europe than there is now.
  5. A component part of compound medicine; a simple.
  6. An officinal mixture or compound powder of any kind; especially, one used for making an aromatic tea or tisane; a tea mixture.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Thomas de Quincey to this entry?) (Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859))

Usage notes

  • specie is a separate word that means coin money, not the singular version of species.
  • (biology, taxonomy, rank in the classification of organisms): See species name.

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

Translations

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

species

  1. Plural form of specie

Synonyms

Latin

Etymology

From speciō ‎(“see”) + -iēs suffix signifying abstract noun.

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈspe.ki.eːs/, [ˈspɛ.ki.eːs]
  • (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈspe.t͡ʃi.es/, [ˈspeː.t͡ʃi.es]

Noun

speciēs f ‎(genitive speciēī); fifth declension

  1. a seeing, view, look
  2. a spectacle, sight
  3. external appearance; general outline or shape
  4. semblance, pretence, pretext, outward show
  5. show, display
  6. (figuratively) vision, dream, apparition
  7. (figuratively) honor, reputation
  8. (figuratively) a kind, quality, type
  9. (law, later) a special case

Inflection

Fifth declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative speciēs speciēs
genitive speciēī speciērum
dative speciēī speciēbus
accusative speciem speciēs
ablative speciē speciēbus
vocative speciēs speciēs

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • species in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • species in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • SPECIES in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to see something in a dream: in somnis videre aliquid or speciem
    • I saw a vision in my dreams: species mihi dormienti oblata est
    • an ideal: species optima or eximia, specimen, also simply species, forma
    • to have formed an ideal notion of a thing: comprehensam quandam animo speciem (alicuius rei) habere
    • to pass as a man of great learning: magnam doctrinae speciem prae se ferre
    • to analyse a general division into its specific parts: genus universum in species certas partiri et dividere (Or. 33. 117)
    • to have the appearance of something: speciem alicuius rei habere
    • to give the impression of...; have the outward aspect of..: speciem alicuius rei praebere
    • to give the impression of...; have the outward aspect of..: speciem prae se ferre
    • apparently; to look at: in speciem
    • apparently; to look at: per speciem (alicuius rei)
    • (ambiguous) in truth; really: re (vera), reapse (opp. specie)
    • (ambiguous) apparently; to look at: specie (De Amic. 13. 47)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃpeːtsi̯ɛs/, /ˈspeːtsi̯ɛs/

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