Meaning & use
genus
A rank in biological classification grouping closely related species that share important common features.
See it in a sentence
Lions and tigers belong to the same genus, Panthera, despite looking quite different.
Botanists placed the newly discovered plant in an existing genus rather than creating a new one.
A note on using this word
In scientific names, the genus is capitalized and comes first, as in Homo sapiens, where Homo is the genus.
Words with a similar meaning
classificationcategory
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