species

Etymology

From Latin speciēs (“appearance; quality”), from speciō (“see”) + -iēs suffix signifying abstract noun. Doublet of spice.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspiːʃiːz/, /ˈspiːsiːz/. Some speakers pronounce the singular with /-ɪz/, the plural with /-iːz/.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːʃiːz, -iːsiːz

Noun

species (countable and uncountable, plural species or (rare, nonstandard) specieses)

1. Type or kind. (Compare race.)

   the male species

   a new species of war

   • 1871, Richard Holt Hutton, Essays, Theological and Literary:

     What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 122:

     He went on kissing her with unflagging industry, while she remained limply in his arms, in a species of satisfied trance.

   1. A group of plants or animals in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction, usually having similar appearance.

      This species of animal is unique to the area.

      • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 103:

        Louise felt raised above her species; a voice had spoken within her inmost soul, whose revealings were vouchsafed but to the chosen few; and what had been indifference, was now disdain.

      • 2012 January, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 70:

        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.

      • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: War Assets: Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani:

        Westerlund News Reporter Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani reached out recently to her viewers with a wartime plea for unity and cooperation among all galactic species.
        UPDATED
        Her sincerity touched extranet viewers and donations for war relief efforts are pouring in, both to the Alliance and its alien allies.

   2. (biology, taxonomy) A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below genus; a taxon at that rank.
      • 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Variation under Nature”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 47:

        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[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, 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. (chemistry, physics) A particular type of atom, molecule, ion or other particle.
   4. (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.
      • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

        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.

      • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

        the species of the letters illuminated with indigo and violet

3. (Christianity) Either of the two elements of the Eucharist after they have been consecrated.
4. Coin, or coined silver, gold, or other metal, used as a circulating medium; specie.
   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures:

     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.

Noun

species

1. plural of specie

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

species

1. plural of specie

Etymology

From speciō (“to see”) +‎ -iēs.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.ki.eːs/, [ˈs̠pɛkieːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.t͡ʃi.es/, [ˈspɛːt͡ʃies]

Noun

speciēs f (genitive speciēī); fifth declension

1. seeing, view, look
2. spectacle, sight

   Synonym: faciēs

3. external appearance, looks; general outline or shape

   Synonyms: habitus, fōrma, frōns, faciēs

4. semblance, pretence, pretense, pretext, outward show (per + genitive)

   Synonym: obtentus

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.170:

     [...] neque enim speciē fāmāve movētur

     And truly, [Dido] was no [longer] worried about [some false] pretense, nor by [any harm to her] reputation

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.3:

     Per speciem honoris

     By the pretext of honouring

5. show, display
6. point of view, perspective
   • 2021 August, Ross Douthat, “Catholic Ideas and Catholic Realities”, in First Things:

     Sub specie aeternitatis no political system is perfect, and no political system final.

     From the perspective of eternity, ....

7. (figuratively) vision, dream, apparition
8. (figuratively) honor, reputation
9. (figuratively) a kind, quality, type
10. (law, later) a special case

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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (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)
    
• Dizionario Latino, Olivetti