Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Taxonomy
/tækˈsɒnəmi/noun
The science of classifying organisms, or any scheme of orderly classification.
The Greek roots
τάξις
táxis
arrangement, ordering
νόμος
nómos
law, custom
Literally: “the law of arrangement”
The story of the word
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle coined taxonomie in French in 1813 for the theory behind plant classification, and English followed within a few years. τάξις is a military noun first, the drawing up of troops in ranks, from τάσσειν, to arrange. Syntax is the same τάξις applied to words rather than soldiers, and tactics is the sister discipline that never left the battlefield.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
syntaxtacticstaxidermy
In a sentence
Molecular data has rewritten the taxonomy of the whole family.
He built a taxonomy of complaints so the team could count them.