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 |
|---|---|
| ceratophyta | group of horny corals, gorgonians |
| ceratosa | group of horny sponges, Ceratosa |
| ceratospongiae | order of horny sponges |
| cercolabidae | family of New World tree porcupines |
| cercomonadidae | family of flagellate protozoans |
| cercomonas | genus of flagellate protozoans |
| cerianthidae | family of tube-dwelling anemones |
| cerianthus | genus of tube anemones |
| ceriomyces | genus of pore fungi, Ceriomyces |
| cerionidae | family of West Indian land snails |
| ceriops | genus of mangrove trees (Rhizophoraceae) |
| ceriornis | genus of tragopan pheasants |
| cerithiidae | family of horn shells (sea snails) |
| cestraciontes | group of Port Jackson (horn) sharks |
| cestraciontidae | family of horn sharks |
| cetiosauria | group of sauropod dinosaurs |
| cetomorpha | superorder-level group of whales |
| cetoniides | family group of rose-chafer beetles |
| cetorhinidae | family of basking sharks |
| chaenolobus | genus name, chaeno- gaping + -lobus |
| chaetangiaceae | family of red algae |
| chaetangium | genus of red algae |
| chaetetes | genus of fossil tabulate corals |
| chaetetidae | family of fossil tabulate corals |
| chaetifera | group of bristle-bearing worms |
| chaetites | fossil coral genus Chaetites |
| chaetitidae | family of fossil corals |
| chaetochloa | grass genus, now Setaria (bristlegrass) |
| chaetophoraceae | family of filamentous green algae |
| chaetophorales | order of green algae |
| chaetopoda | class of bristle-bearing annelid worms |
| chaetosoma | genus of marine nematodes |
| chaetosomatidae | family of marine nematodes |
| chaetosomidae | family of nematodes (var. of Chaetosomatidae) |
| chailletiaceae | plant family, now Dichapetalaceae |
| chalastogastra | suborder of sawflies (broad-waisted Hymenoptera) |
| chalcididae | family of chalcid wasps |
| chalicotheriidae | family of extinct clawed ungulates |
| chalinidae | family of horny sponges |
| chamacea | superfamily group of chama bivalves |
| chamaebatia | genus of Californian shrubs (mountain misery) |
| chamaecistus | plant genus, now Rhodothamnus |
| chamaelirium | genus of lilies (devil's bit) |
| chamaenerion | genus of willowherbs |
| chamaerops | genus of European fan palms |
| chamaesaura | genus of African grass lizards |
| chamaesiphon | genus of blue-green algae |
| chamaesiphonaceae | family of blue-green algae |
| chamaesiphonales | order of blue-green algae |
| chamidae | family of chama (jewel-box) bivalves |
| characinidae | family of characin fishes |
| charadriomorphae | group of plover-like shore birds |
| chauliodes | genus of fishflies (Corydalidae) |
| cheilodipteridae | family of cardinalfishes |
| chelidosaurus | genus of extinct branchiosaur amphibians |
| cheliferidea | group of pseudoscorpions (Chelifer kin) |
| chelonidae | family of sea turtles |
| chelura | genus of wood-boring amphipods |
| chelydidae | family of side-necked turtles |
| chenopodiales | order of plants, the goosefoot order |
| chermidae | family of jumping plant lice (psyllids) |
| chersydridae | family of wart snakes |
| chilina | genus of South American freshwater snails |
| chilinidae | family of freshwater snails |
| chilodon | genus of ciliate protozoans |
| chilopsis | genus of the desert willow |
| chilostomata | order of bryozoans (Cheilostomata) |
| chimaeridae | family of chimaeras or ratfish |
| chiococca | genus of tropical shrubs, the snowberry |
| chiogenes | genus of the creeping snowberry |
| chionididae | family of sheathbills |
| chirogale | genus of dwarf lemurs (Cheirogaleus) |
| chiromyidae | family of the aye-aye |
| chiromys | genus of the aye-aye |
| chirotes | genus of two-legged worm lizards |
| chlamydobacteriaceae | family of sheathed bacteria |
| chlamydobacteriales | order of sheathed bacteria |
| chlamydomonadidae | family of green flagellates |
| chlamydoselachidae | family of frilled sharks |
| chlorellaceae | family of green algae |
| chloridella | genus of mantis shrimps |
| chloridellidae | family of mantis shrimps |
| chlorioninae | subfamily of digger wasps |
| chlorococcaceae | family of green algae |
| chlorococcus | genus of green algae |
| chlorophora | genus of trees, fustic and iroko |
| choanoflagellidae | family of collared flagellates |
| chondria | genus of red algae |
| chondroganoidei | order of cartilaginous ganoid fishes |
| chondromyces | genus of myxobacteria |
| chondropterygii | group of cartilaginous fishes |
| chorioptes | genus of mange mites |
| choripetalae | plant group with separate petals |
| chromatioideae | subfamily of purple sulphur bacteria |
| chromidae | family of cichlid fishes |
| chromididae | family of cichlid fishes |
| chromobacterieae | tribe of pigment-forming bacteria |
| chroococcaceae | family of blue-green algae |
| chrosperma | genus of liliaceous plants, fly-poison |
| chrysalida | Chrysallida, genus of pyramidellid sea snails |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
