holotype

noun/ˈhoʊloʊtaɪp/

Frequency rank: #16,971 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

The single specimen designated as the name-bearing type of a biological species.

Illustration for the English word “holotype”

Example sentence

Scientists confirmed that the fossil found in the museum was the holotype for the newly described dinosaur species.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 16,901–17,000