Etymology

species

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Today it means: A type or kind. (Compare race.) Full definition →

Latin speciēs
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromspeciēs“appearance; quality”
  2. English todayspecies

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

Words from the same roots

Latinspeciēs all →

specificspicetranspeciate

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.