Real Words Without Definition
We're sure about this one.
The Latin name of a group of plants or animals.
The naming system runs on endings, which is why there are so many. -idae is an animal family, -aceae a plant family, -inae a subfamily, -ales an order. achetidae is the crickets, acraeinae is a group of butterflies, agalenidae is the funnel-weaver spiders.
They are capitalised in real use but arrive here in lower case like everything else.
2,849 words · sorted A to Z · each with a line on why it is here
Matches the word itself, not the note beside it. Case does not matter.
| Word, sorted Z to A | What it names |
|---|---|
| psocidae | family of booklice |
| psychichthys | genus of fishes (-ichthys) |
| pteranodontidae | family of toothless pterosaurs |
| pteraspidae | family of fossil ostracoderm fishes |
| pteridospermae | class of fossil seed-ferns |
| pteridospermaphyta | division of fossil seed-ferns |
| pterocera | genus of marine gastropods (scorpion conchs) |
| pterocletes | suborder of sandgrouse |
| pteroclomorphae | group of birds allied to the sandgrouse |
| pterodactylidae | family of pterosaurs |
| pterophryne | genus of frogfishes (sargassum fish) |
| pteropidae | family of fruit bats |
| pterospora | genus of plants, pinedrops |
| pterygogenea | group comprising the winged insects |
| ptilichthyidae | family of quillfishes |
| ptilonorhynchinae | subfamily of bowerbirds |
| ptilota | genus of red algae |
| pulmonifera | former group of lung-bearing mollusks |
| pulmotrachearia | arachnid group having lungs and tracheae |
| punicaceae | family of the pomegranate |
| pupidae | family of land snails |
| pupillidae | family of land snails |
| pupipara | group of pupa-bearing flies |
| pupivora | group of insects parasitic on pupae |
| pycnocoma | genus of African spurges |
| pycnodonti | group of fossil pycnodont fishes |
| pycnodontidae | family of fossil fishes |
| pycnodus | genus of fossil fishes |
| pygididae | family of South American catfishes |
| pygobranchia | group of gastropods with posterior gills |
| pygobranchiata | group of gastropods with posterior gills |
| pygopodes | order of diving birds, loons and grebes |
| pyraceae | former family of the pear and apple |
| pyralididae | family of moths |
| pyralidoidea | superfamily of moths |
| pyrameis | former genus of nymphalid butterflies |
| pyramidella | genus of marine gastropods |
| pyraustinae | subfamily of pyralid moths |
| pyrenochaeta | genus of imperfect fungi |
| pyrenomycetales | order of ascomycete fungi |
| pyrenomycetineae | suborder of ascomycete fungi |
| pyrocystis | genus of luminescent dinoflagellates |
| pyromorphidae | family of zygaenoid moths |
| pyrosomatidae | family of pelagic tunicates |
| pyrosomidae | family of colonial tunicates |
| pyrotherium | extinct South American ungulate genus |
| pyrula | genus of fig-shell gastropods |
| pythiacystis | genus of oomycete fungi |
| pythoninae | subfamily of pythons |
| quadratifera | group of vertebrates having a quadrate bone |
| querciflorae | former plant order containing the oaks |
| quernales | plant order containing the oaks |
| rachiglossa | group of carnivorous gastropods |
| raphidodea | group of snakeflies (Raphidiodea) |
| raphidoidea | superfamily of snakeflies |
| raphiolepis | genus of rosaceous shrubs (Rhaphiolepis) |
| raphus | genus of the dodo |
| receptaculitidae | family of fossil receptaculitids |
| restiaceae | family of rushlike plants, now Restionaceae |
| retepora | genus of lace-coral bryozoans |
| reteporidae | family of bryozoans, Reteporidae |
| retiariae | Retiariae, a division of net-spinning spiders |
| rhabdocarpum | fossil plant genus with rod-shaped fruits |
| rhabdocoelida | order of turbellarian flatworms |
| rhabdomonas | genus of flagellate protozoans |
| rhacianectes | genus of gray whales (Rhachianectes) |
| rhaptopetalaceae | family of tropical African trees |
| rheae | group of ratite birds, the rheas |
| rhegnopteri | a group of carinate birds |
| rhinanthaceae | plant family based on Rhinanthus, yellow rattle |
| rhineodontidae | family of whale sharks |
| rhipiphoridae | family of wedge-shaped beetles |
| rhipiptera | insect order, the Strepsiptera |
| rhodobacteriaceae | family of purple photosynthetic bacteria |
| rhodobacterioideae | subfamily of purple bacteria |
| rhodocystis | genus of red algae |
| rhodophyllidaceae | family of red algae |
| rhodoraceae | plant family based on Rhodora |
| rhodospermeae | group of red-spored algae |
| rhodothece | genus of purple sulphur bacteria |
| rhodymeniaceae | family of red algae |
| rhoeadales | plant order containing the poppies |
| rhomboganoidei | order of ganoid fishes with rhombic scales |
| rhynchobdellae | order of proboscis-bearing leeches |
| rhynchobdellida | order of proboscis leeches |
| rhynchocephala | reptile order of the tuatara |
| rhynchocephali | the Rhynchocephalia, beak-headed reptiles |
| rhynchonellacea | superfamily of brachiopods |
| rhynchonellidae | family of brachiopods |
| rhynchopinae | subfamily of skimmers (Rynchops) |
| rhyncostomi | group of beak-mouthed fishes |
| rhyniaceae | family of fossil plants (Rhynia) |
| rhynocheti | bird group containing the kagu |
| ricciales | order of liverworts (Riccia) |
| richardsonia | plant genus, the Mexican clover |
| rissoidae | family of small marine snails (Rissoa) |
| roccellaceae | family of lichens (Roccella) |
| rubicola | specific name, as in the stonechat Saxicola rubicola |
| rudistae | Rudistae, an extinct group of bivalves |
| rupicaprinae | subfamily of goat-antelopes, the chamois group |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
