# The word "specie" **URL:** \ **Category:** Nature Talk\ **Created:** [August 30, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965 "2021-08-30T17:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DanielAustin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/danielaustin/32/1722_2.png) [@DanielAustin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DanielAustin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/1 "2021-08-30T17:22:36Z")
As an aside, please note that the word “ **species** ” is spelled “ **species** ” in both the singular and plural forms. The word “ **specie** ” doesn’t exist in biology (it is an English word but it means something to do with money/coinage, nothing related to flora & fauna). ---
**Author:** ![DanielAustin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/danielaustin/32/1722_2.png) [@DanielAustin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DanielAustin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/3 "2021-08-30T19:07:31Z")
Sure, I don’t doubt there are others who make the same error (especially as a vast number of academic papers are written by people for whom English is their second or third language), but you won’t find the singular form “specie” accepted in any dictionary or grammar guide. And in my experience of proofreading and copy-editing, I’ve not encountered a publishing house with a stylesheet that would accept it either. The example you give (Vârban, 2006) is written by a native speaker of Romanian, and was not published in a professional journal so won’t have been through a professional proofreading process. Indeed, opening the first page of that paper, I also see “_ **fowering** _” (instead of “flowering”) and the phrase “The research _ **were** _ carried out…” – so I am not sure I would treat that paper as a guide for proper English. ---
**Author:** ![DanielAustin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/danielaustin/32/1722_2.png) [@DanielAustin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DanielAustin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/5 "2021-08-30T20:32:23Z")
I agree that there is surely more complexity to the story (there invariably is in etymology!) I checked the full OED and it doesn’t have a record of “specie” (other than in the monetary usage) but it does record “species **es** ” being used as an alternative plural up until about 1800. The only two dictionary sources I could find mentioning “specie” in the taxonomic meaning were Wiktionary, which says that it is a “_proscribed singular of species which is universally considered by prescriptive references to be an error: a back-formation from species (plural), the final ‘s’ being misinterpreted as a plural ending._”; and Merriam-Webster, which defines it as a “_non-standard singular form of species; a back-formation from species (taken as a plural)_”. In other words, these two acknowledge that it is sometimes used but that it came about through misunderstanding. A few other sources I found on the matter (they all pretty much seem to agree): [https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/specie/](https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/specie/) [https://thetrcompany.com/en/difference-specie-species/](https://thetrcompany.com/en/difference-specie-species/) [https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/188182/when-did-species-become-the-word-for-both-the-singular-and-plural](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/188182/when-did-species-become-the-word-for-both-the-singular-and-plural) [https://strategiesforparents.com/specie-or-species-the-difference-between-two-distinct-terms/](https://strategiesforparents.com/specie-or-species-the-difference-between-two-distinct-terms/) [https://bugguide.net/node/view/172949](https://bugguide.net/node/view/172949) [https://www.quora.com/Is-species-singular-or-plural-How-do-you-say-the-alternate-version-of-the-word](https://www.quora.com/Is-species-singular-or-plural-How-do-you-say-the-alternate-version-of-the-word) [https://preply.com/en/question/singular-of-species](https://preply.com/en/question/singular-of-species) [https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/932837](https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/932837) ---
**Author:** ![dlevitis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dlevitis/32/21743_2.png) [@dlevitis](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/dlevitis)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/7 "2021-08-30T21:50:27Z")
Specie is also used in describing types of particles. e.g., Steinhauer, L. C., & Ishida, A. (1997). Relaxation of a two-specie magnetofluid. _Physical review letters_, _79_(18), 3423. ---
**Author:** ![olrett](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/olrett/32/19044_2.png) [@olrett](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/olrett)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2021, 5:18am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/8 "2021-08-31T05:18:51Z")
Which is not biology. QED. ---
**Author:** ![DanielAustin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/danielaustin/32/1722_2.png) [@DanielAustin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DanielAustin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/10 "2021-09-02T17:06:51Z")
Don’t be fooled by the “two” in “a two-specie magnetofluid”; that doesn’t make the noun grammatically plural. In English compound nouns of that form, we use the singular noun: a “two-man tent” or a “ten-rung ladder”… (not a two-men tent or a ten-rungs ladder). ---
**Author:** ![jnstuart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jnstuart/32/1623_2.png) [@jnstuart](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jnstuart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/11 "2021-09-02T17:53:16Z")
I have occasionally heard the word “specie” used in a biological context – in one case, by an administrative person/manager who oversees biologists – in reference to some biological study or finding. It’s often a flag that the person has little or no biological training. But then I’ve also heard the occasional biologist say “genuses” instead of genera! ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/12 "2021-09-02T18:25:57Z")
Because genuses is a form as accepted as genera. [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/genus](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/genus) ---
**Author:** ![jnstuart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jnstuart/32/1623_2.png) [@jnstuart](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jnstuart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/13 "2021-09-02T18:30:41Z")
Yeah, but it’s not common (at least in my experience) and if you’re writing for publication it probably won’t fly. ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/14 "2021-09-02T18:51:35Z")
Even though it is uncommon it is correct, so if things were going fair way you couldn’t be stopped and corrected for using it. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/15 "2021-09-02T20:06:37Z")
Genuses is the non-standard plural. Technically correct, but not much used. ---
**Author:** ![jnstuart](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/jnstuart/32/1623_2.png) [@jnstuart](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/jnstuart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/17 "2021-09-02T23:56:41Z")
The use of species as both singular and plural, as we use it today, was common in biological publications at least as far back as the 1850s. Probably even much earlier, but I haven’t made the effort to search the literature older than that. Added note: at least back to the 1820s. ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/19 "2021-09-03T00:45:12Z")
It’s an interesting question to ask those authors how they understand their use of that word and its meaning. [https://www.etymonline.com/word/specie](https://www.etymonline.com/word/specie) ---
**Author:** ![olrett](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/olrett/32/19044_2.png) [@olrett](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/olrett)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/20 "2021-09-03T06:00:09Z")
> Sometimes […] they use both in the same publication. Does not speak well for the publication. Sloppy editing/proof-reading. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/the-word-specie/25965/21 "2021-11-02T06:00:44Z")
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