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 |
|---|---|
| deinodontidae | family of theropod dinosaurs |
| deinosauria | Dinosauria, order of extinct reptiles |
| delobranchiata | old group name, "visible-gilled" animals |
| dematiaceae | family of dark-spored fungi |
| dendraspis | genus of African mambas (Dendroaspis) |
| dendrium | old genus of ericaceous shrubs, sand myrtle |
| dendrobatinae | subfamily of poison-dart frogs |
| dendrocalamus | genus of giant bamboos |
| dendroceratina | group of horny sponges |
| dendrochirota | order of sea cucumbers with branched tentacles |
| dendrocoela | division of flatworms with branched gut |
| dendrocolaptidae | family of woodcreepers |
| dendroctonus | genus of bark beetles |
| dendrodus | genus of fossil lobe-finned fishes |
| dendroeca | genus of wood warblers (Dendroica) |
| dendrohyrax | genus of tree hyraxes |
| dendroidea | order of dendroid graptolites |
| dendromecon | genus of Californian bush poppies |
| dendropogon | genus for Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) |
| dennstaedtia | genus of ferns, the hay-scented ferns |
| denticeti | suborder of toothed whales |
| dentirostres | group of toothed-billed perching birds |
| deringa | old genus of umbellifers, honewort |
| dermatobia | genus of botflies, Dermatobia hominis |
| dermatocoptes | genus of mange mites |
| dermatomyces | genus of skin-infesting fungi |
| dermatoptera | order of earwigs, Dermaptera |
| dermobranchia | group of nudibranch molluscs with skin gills |
| dermobranchiata | order of molluscs breathing through the skin |
| dermococcus | genus of skin bacteria |
| dermorhynchi | group of birds with soft-skinned bills |
| derotrema | group of salamanders with persistent gill clefts |
| derotremata | division of amphibians, the derotremes |
| desmarestiaceae | family of brown algae |
| desmatippus | extinct genus of horses |
| desmodactyli | group of birds with bound toe tendons |
| desmodontidae | family of vampire bats |
| desmodus | genus of vampire bats |
| desmognathae | group of birds with fused palate bones |
| desmomyaria | order of salps |
| desmoncus | genus of climbing palms |
| desmoscolecidae | family of marine nematodes |
| desmoscolex | genus of marine nematodes |
| desmothoraca | order of heliozoan protozoa |
| deuterostomata | major division of the animal kingdom |
| diacromyodi | group of singing birds by syrinx muscles |
| dialister | genus of anaerobic bacteria |
| dialypetalae | division of plants with separate petals |
| dianthaceae | family of pinks, based on Dianthus |
| dianthera | genus of water-willows |
| diaspidinae | subfamily of armored scale insects |
| diaspinae | subfamily of armored scale insects |
| diatoma | genus of diatoms |
| diatomaceae | family of diatoms |
| diatomales | order of diatoms |
| diatomeae | older group name for the diatoms |
| diatrymiformes | order of extinct giant flightless birds |
| dibranchia | order of two-gilled cephalopods |
| diceras | genus of fossil bivalves |
| diceratidae | family of fossil bivalves |
| dichapetalaceae | family of tropical shrubs |
| dichapetalum | genus of poisonous tropical shrubs |
| dichelyma | genus of aquatic mosses |
| dichondraceae | family of creeping herbs |
| dichorisandra | genus of tropical American herbs |
| diclidantheraceae | family of South American plants |
| diclytra | old genus name for Dicentra |
| dicotyledones | class of dicotyledonous plants |
| dicotyles | genus of peccaries |
| dicotylidae | family of peccaries |
| dicranaceae | family of mosses |
| dicranum | genus of mosses |
| dictyoceratina | suborder of horny sponges |
| dictyograptus | genus of graptolites |
| dictyonema | genus of lichen-forming fungi |
| dictyonina | group of hexactinellid sponges |
| dictyophora | genus of stinkhorn fungi |
| dictyopteris | genus of brown algae |
| dictyosiphon | genus of brown algae |
| dictyosiphonaceae | family of brown algae |
| dictyotaceae | family of brown algae |
| dictyotales | order of brown algae |
| dictyoxylon | fossil-plant form genus with netted bark |
| dicyclica | group of crinoids with two circlets of plates |
| dicyema | genus of mesozoan parasites |
| dicyemata | group of mesozoans |
| dicyemidae | family of mesozoans |
| dicynodon | genus of fossil therapsid reptiles |
| dicynodontia | group of fossil therapsids |
| dicynodontidae | family of fossil therapsids |
| didelphia | group of marsupial mammals |
| didelphyidae | family of opossums |
| dididae | family of the dodo |
| didinium | genus of ciliate protozoans |
| didunculidae | family of the tooth-billed pigeon |
| didunculinae | subfamily of the tooth-billed pigeon |
| digenetica | group of digenetic trematodes |
| dikelocephalus | genus of Cambrian trilobites |
| dilleniaceae | family of tropical trees and shrubs |
| dimyaria | group of bivalves with two adductor muscles |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
