Taxonomy

the study, identification and organization of organisms according to their similarities and differences. Taxonomy is concerned with the classification of all organisms, whether plant or animal, dead or alive and so fossils are also important. Modern taxonomy provides a convenient method of identification and classification of organisms, which expresses the evolutionary relationships to one another. There are different levels of classification with five kingdoms, beneath which are the phyla, classes, right down to the level of species.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek τάξις, taxis (meaning 'order', 'arrangement') and νόμος, nomos ('law' or 'science'). Taxonomy uses taxonomic units, known as taxa (singular taxon).

In addition, the word is also used as a count noun: a taxonomy, or taxonomic scheme, is a particular classification ("the taxonomy of ..."), arranged in a hierarchical structure. Typically this is organized by supertype-subtype relationships, also called generalization-specialization relationships, or less formally, parent-child relationships. In such an inheritance relationship, the subtype by definition has the same properties, behaviors, and constraints as the supertype plus one or more additional properties, behaviors, or constraints. For example, car is a subtype of vehicle. So any car is also a vehicle, but not every vehicle is a car. Therefore, a type needs to satisfy more constraints to be a car than to be a vehicle.

Taken from Wikipedia