Binomial nomenclature

In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system. The essence of it is that each species name is in (modern scientific) Latin and has two parts, so that it is also sometimes popularly known as the Latin name of the species, although this terminology is frowned upon by biologists and philologists, who prefer the phrase scientific name.

The species is the lowest rank in the system for classifying organisms. The seven main ranks are, from largest to smallest: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.