A species is a group of living things that are similar enough to breed with each other and have offspring that can also reproduce. It’s one of the basic units used to classify life.
From Latin *species* meaning “appearance, form, kind,” related to *specere* “to look at.” In science, it narrowed from “kind” in general to a specific biological category.
The plural form *species* looks exactly like the singular, which is why people say “one species, many species.” The word reminds us that scientists are really grouping living things by how they appear and behave over generations.
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