Coined by de Candolle from Greek taxis 'arrangement' + -nomia 'method,' naming the science Linnaeus had practiced for decades without a word for it.
The branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms, or any systematic arrangement into ordered categories.
From French taxonomie, coined by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1813 from Greek taxis 'arrangement, order' + -nomia 'method, law,' from nomos 'law.' Linnaeus had established the modern classification system in 1735, but the word for what he was doing didn't exist until nearly 80 years later. Key roots: *teh₂g- (Proto-Indo-European: "to put