Where does “subspecies” come from?
Subspecies derives from English species, from Latin speciēs meaning "appearance" or "kind," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European speḱ- meaning "to look" or "observe."
subspecies (English): A rank in the classification of organisms, below...
Definitions
- A rank in the classification of organisms, below...
Ancestry of “subspecies”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Species | — |
| 2 | Latin | speciēs | — |
| 3 | Latin | speciō | — |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | spekjō | to observe, to see |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | spéḱyeti | to be looking at, to keep looking at |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | speḱ- | to see, to look, to observe |
Words derived from “subspecies”