Skip to main content
Back

Scientific Naming of Organisms definitions

Control buttons has been changed to "navigation" mode.
1/13
  • Binomial Nomenclature
    A Latin-based two-part system for naming organisms, consisting of a genus and species.
  • Genus
    The first part of a scientific name, always capitalized and italicized or underlined.
  • Species
    The second part of a scientific name, always lowercase and italicized or underlined.
  • Strain
    A genetic variant within a species, often indicated by a specific designation.
  • Strain Designation
    A label added to a scientific name to identify a particular genetic variant within a species.
  • Italicization
    A formatting style used for both genus and species names in scientific naming.
  • Underlining
    An alternative formatting style to italicization for scientific names when handwritten.
  • Latin
    The classical language used as the basis for scientific names in taxonomy.
  • Carl Linnaeus
    The scientist who developed the two-part naming system for organisms in the 1700s.
  • Microorganism
    A microscopic living entity, such as bacteria or fungi, classified using scientific naming.
  • Bacterium
    A single-celled prokaryotic organism, often identified by genus, species, and sometimes strain.
  • Fungus
    A eukaryotic organism, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, named using the binomial system.
  • Taxonomy
    The scientific discipline concerned with classifying and naming organisms.