Meanings
nounphylum (plural phyla or (nonstandard) phylums)
plural phyla · nonstandard plural phylums
- biologyA rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class; also called a divisio or a division, especially in describing plants; a taxon at that rank
Mammals belong to the phylum Chordata.
1 more example
While biologists are perpetually finding new species, they can almost always fit the organism into one of the existing taxonomic pigeonholes by which scientists classify life forms. The discovery of an organism so unusual that it needs its own phylum is an extremely rare event.
1995 December 14, Natalie Angier, “Flyspeck on a Lobster Lip Turns Biology on Its Ear”, in The New York Times, →ISSN - human sciencesA large division of possibly related languages, or a major language family which is not subordinate to another.
Synonyms: superstock
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA large division of possibly related languages, or a major language family which is not subordinate to another.
Similar
Origin
- Ancient Greekφῦλον“tribe, race”
- Latinphylum
- Englishphylum
From Latin phylum, from Ancient Greek φῦλον (phûlon, “tribe, race”).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans filum
- filum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Arabic شُعْبَة
- شُعْبَة (šuʕba)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Bulgarian тип
- тип (tip)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Catalan fílum
- fílum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Chinese Cantonese 門 /门
- 門 /门 (mun⁴)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Chinese Mandarin 門 /门
- 門 /门 (mén)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Czech kmen
- kmen(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Danish række
- række(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Dutch stam
- stam(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Esperanto filumo
- filumo(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Estonian hõimkond
- hõimkond(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Finnish pääjakso, kaari
- pääjakso(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- kaari(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
French embranchement
- embranchement(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
German Stamm
- Stamm(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Greek φύλο
- φύλο (fýlo)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Hebrew מַעֲרָכָה
- מַעֲרָכָה (ma'arachá)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Hindi संघ
- संघ (saṅgh)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Hungarian törzs
- törzs(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Icelandic fylking
- fylking(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Indonesian filum
- filum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Italian filo, tipo
- filo(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- tipo(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- divisione(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Japanese 門
- 門 (mon)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Korean 문
- 문 (mun)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Latvian tips
- tips(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Lithuanian tipas
- tipas(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Malay filum
- filum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Māori pori
- pori(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Persian شاخه
- شاخه (šâxe)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Portuguese filo
- filo(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Romanian încrengătură
- încrengătură(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Russian тип, отде́л
- тип (tip)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- отде́л (otdél)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Slovak kmeň
- kmeň(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Spanish filo
- filo(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Swedish stam, fylum
- stam(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- fylum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- provins(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- phylum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Tagalog sangahay
- sangahay(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Thai ไฟลัม
- ไฟลัม (fai-lâm)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Turkish şube, dal
- şube(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- dal(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- filum(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Ukrainian тип, ві́дділ
- тип (typ)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
- ві́дділ (víddil)(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Vietnamese ngành
- ngành(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Welsh ffylwm
- ffylwm(biology, taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with phylum
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
APA
phylum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phylum
MLA
“phylum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phylum. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phylum,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phylum.
Source: phylum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.