species
/ˈspiːʃiːz/noun
species is spelled S-P-E-C-I-E-S. The wrong spelling people search most is speices: about 70 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 53 of all searches for the word. Species is a noun meaning “A type or kind. (Compare race.)”.
How many letters and syllables are in species?
| Letters | 7: S-P-E-C-I-E-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 71 times per million words; the 1,486th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, speices, about 70 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell species?
Species is spelled S-P-E-C-I-E-S. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 53 of the searches for species in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is species?
Species appears 71 times per million words in written English, the 1,486th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce species?
- /ˈspiːʃiːz/
- /ˈspiːsiːz/
- /ˈspiːʃi.ɪz/
Species has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-species.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does species mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A type or kind. (Compare race.)
the male species
- 2
A group of sexually reproducing organisms of which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction, usually having similar appearance.
This species of animal is unique to the area.
- 3
A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below genus; a taxon at that rank.
- 4
An individual or kind of a biological species.
- 5
A particular type of atom, molecule, ion or other particle.
- 6
A mineral with a unique chemical formula whose crystals belong to a unique crystallographic system.
- 7
obsoleteThe image of something cast on a surface, or reflected from a surface, or refracted through a lens or telescope; a reflection.
I cast the species of the Sun onto a sheet of paper through a telescope.
- 8
obsoleteVisible or perceptible presentation; appearance; something perceived.
- 9
plural of specie
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate species?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of species: spec..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Species in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does species come from?
From Latin speciēs (“appearance; quality”), from speciō (“see”) + -iēs suffix signifying abstract noun. Doublet of spice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).