species
part of speech
noun (a species, species — same form singular and plural)
meaning for a pupil
1) A group of living things that are alike and can breed together to have young that can also have young: Lions are one species, tigers another. tree →
2) (informal) A kind or sort. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, species is the basic group in classifying life: humans are the species Homo sapiens. Endangered species are at risk of dying out; extinct species are gone. In maths problems species are counted: «The zoo has 12 species of monkey.» In everyday nature lessons, protecting species protects habitats.
examples
- The giant panda is an endangered species. tree →
- Scientists find new species every year. tree →
- There are many species of bird in the park. tree →
- The dodo is an extinct species. tree →
- Humans belong to the species Homo sapiens. tree →
- The zoo has 8 species of reptile and 5 of amphibian — 13 species in all. tree →
- They belong to the goose species, one can see that by their walk. tree →
note
Plural is the same: one species, two species («specie» is a different word for coins, not the singular!). Say SPEE-sheez. Species names are written in italics with a capital first word: Homo sapiens.
In the corpora
- There are eight species of bear, and the koala is not one of them but a marsupial.
- Coral reefs cover less than 1 per cent of the ocean floor but are home to about a quarter of all sea fish species.
- An animal that keeps a whole habitat in balance, like the sea otter, is called a keystone species.
- A contagious (catching) face cancer has killed many devils, and scientists keep healthy groups of devils safe to save the species.
- One could almost stand under the other, yet they greet each other as dogs, because they are one species.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «species» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.