This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants is largely derived from Latin and Greek, as are some of the names used for higher taxa such as orders and above. At the time when Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) published the books that are now accepted as the starting point of binomial nomenclature, Latin was used in Western Europe as the language of science, and scientific names were in Latin or Greek: Linnaeus continued this practice.

Although Latin is now largely unused except by classical scholars and for certain purposes by botanists and the Roman Catholic Church, Latin can still be found in scientific names. It is helpful to be able to understand the source of scientific names. While the 'Latin names' do not always correspond to the current English common names, they are often related, and if their meanings are understood they are easier to recall.

Often a genus name or specific descriptor is simply the Latin or Greek name for the animal (e.g. Canis is Latin for a dog). These words are not included in the table below, because they will only occur for one or two taxa. The words listed below are the common adjectives and other modifiers that repeatedly occur in the scientific names of many organisms.

Words that are very similar to their English forms are not included.

See also

• List of Greek words with English derivatives
• List of Latin words with English derivatives

List of words

In this table L = Latin, G = Greek, and LG = similar in both languages.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W, X, Y, Z

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "The Botanary".
2. ^ Chuck Griffith. "Dictionary of Botanical Epithets".
3. ^ Umberto Quattrocchi (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. CRC Press, 2610. ISBN 0849326737. 

External links

• "The Botanary" at "Dave's Garden".
• Dictionary of botanical epithets
• European Species Names in Linnaean, Czech, English, German and French