What does taxonomy mean?
Word: Taxonomy
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Taxonomy means the science of naming, describing and sorting living things into groups, such as kingdom, family, genus and species.
How do you spell taxonomy?
Syllables: tax - on - o - my
Tricky part: It ends in onomy, with o both before and after the n, and finishes with y. Students often write taxanomy.
Watch out for: taxanomy, taxonamy, taxonomey
Memory tip: Taxonomy starts with tax, like the money you pay, but this word is about naming and sorting living things.
Taxonomy in a sentence
Example 1: A field guide to birds follows taxonomy, so all the owls appear on the same pages.
Example 2: The botanist spent years on the taxonomy of Himalayan orchids.
Example 3: Our project on taxonomy sorted twenty insects into their orders.
Fun Fact
Carl Linnaeus, often called the father of modern taxonomy, made two-part names popular, which is why the tiger is Panthera tigris.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) taxonomy
b) organisim
c) habbitat
d) specees
Show answer
a) taxonomy. Taxonomy is right; habitat has one b, organism ends in ism and species is spelt with ies.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word: taxonomy
a) confusion
b) mixture
c) measurement
d) classification
Show answer
d) classification. Taxonomy and classification both mean sorting things into groups.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
monotyxa
a) taxation
b) taxonomy
c) anatomy
d) monotony
Show answer
b) taxonomy. Taxation needs an i, anatomy a second a and monotony a third o, so the eight letters spell taxonomy.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A scientist doing taxonomy on a newly found beetle would ____.
a) count how many eggs it lays
b) test how far it can fly
c) map the places where it lives
d) name it and place it in a group
Show answer
d) name it and place it in a group
2. Which sentence shows taxonomy at work?
a) Whales sing songs that carry far under water.
b) Whales can swim thousands of kilometres a year.
c) Whales are often seen near the coast in winter.
d) Whales are grouped with mammals, not with fish.
Show answer
d) Whales are grouped with mammals, not with fish.
