Taxonomy is the process of naming and classifying things such as animals and plants into groups within a larger system, according to their similarities and differences.
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taxonomy | Definition of taxonomy in English by Oxford Dictionaries
Definition of taxonomy – the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.The branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.Taxonomy is the science of classification of plants and animals.
Facts About Taxonomy
- The word taxonomy is derived from two Greek words – taxis, which means order or arrangement, and nomos, which means law or science.
- Taxonomy is normally shown or illustrated in a taxonomy tree that breaks down classifications and sub-classifications about a particular subject in a tree diagram.
- The field of taxonomy largely began with “alpha taxonomy,” which is used to classify species and subspecies of plants and animals.
- Taxonomy has expanded over the years to include the classification of both animate and inanimate objects.
- In recent years, the concept of taxonomy has been used for the organization of subject matter in libraries and other information fields.
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- An example of taxonomy is the way living beings are divided up into Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
- An example of taxonomy is the Dewey Decimal system – the way libraries classify non-fiction books by division and subdivisions. The number assigned, combined with the first three letters of the author’s last name, become the call number used for deciding the order of arrangment of books on the library shelf.
- An example of taxonomy is the way a website classifies and organizes available resources and information to help navigation within a website.
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taxonomy
nounpl. -·mies
- the science of classification; laws and principles covering the classifying of objects
- BIOL.a system of arranging animals and plants into natural, related groups based on some factor common to each, as structure, embryology, or biochemistry: the basic taxa now in use are, in descending order from most inclusive, domain, kingdom, phylum(in botany, division), class, order, family, genus, and species
Origin of taxonomyFrench taxonomie from Classical Greek taxis (see taxis) + nomos, law (see -nomy)