taxon

noun

tax·​on ˈtak-ˌsän 

plural taxa ˈtak-sə  also taxons

1

: a scientifically classified group or entity : a taxonomic unit (such as a genus or order) of any rank

Like higher taxa, subspecies are also partly objective but partly based on human decision.

—Stephen Jay Gould

… we know from the fossil record that this is a relict taxon … originating 13 million years ago …

—Bernard Wood et al.

2

: the name applied to a taxonomic group in a formal system of nomenclature

The marine triclads are formally subsumed in the taxon Maricola …

—Seth Tyler

Examples of taxon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With its unique genetic fingerprint, the unknown Commiphora species most likely represented an extinct taxon once native to the region surrounding the Judean Desert, according to the study. —Katie Hunt, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024

Some organisms appear to go extinct only to reappear in the record millions of years later, what experts call a Lazarus taxon. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 July 2024

But while well-recorded in the world today, with some 195 species in a single taxon of ant-mimics called the Myrmarachne, these spiders are not well represented in fossil finds. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 28 Mar. 2024

In a new study in Nature Communications, the researchers identify the likely cause: a type of bacterium called Bisgaard taxon 45. —Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Nov. 2023

Again And Again To start this process, the study authors chose 19 common techniques for estimating an extinct animal’s mass and applied them to five separate species similar to the temnospondyls, though not members of the taxon themselves. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2022

The goal of this study was to develop a reliable method of electroejaculation in the rhinoceros by designing a rectal probe that appropriately fits the anatomy of this taxon and refining the procedure. —Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2011

In fact, according to a study in Palaeontology, the temnospondyls — a taxon of primitive amphibians that lived around 330 million to 120 million years ago and looked a lot like crocodiles — came in a variety of sizes. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2022

Researchers believe this taxon is unique to the southern reaches of the region. —Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 17 July 2013

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Taxon, extracted from Taxonomie taxonomy, with -on functioning as a suffix, based on the Greek neuter noun and participle ending — more at -on entry 2

Note: German Taxon was introduced by the philosopher and historian of the natural sciences Adolf Meyer-Abich (1893-1971) in Logik der Morphologie im Rahmen einer Logik der gesamten Biologie (Berlin, 1926), p. 127.

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

taxon

noun

tax·​on ˈtak-ˌsän 

plural taxa -sə  also taxons

1

: a taxonomic group or entity

2

: the name applied to a taxonomic group in a formal system of nomenclature