Species
/ˈspiː.ʃiːz/noun
A group of living organisms classified together because they can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, or a kind or sort of something.
Did you know?In Latin, species could mean “appearance,” “form,” or “kind,” and that same root also gave English words tied to sight and spectacle.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*spek-
“to look at, observe”
Latin
Latin
specere
“to look at, behold”
Latin
Latin
species
“appearance, form, kind, sort”
Middle English
English
spesye / species
“a kind, sort, or class”
Modern English
English
species
“a biological kind or type of organism”