specimen

See also: spécimen

English

A specimen stamp

Postcard: "Be careful, Clara, that's a fine specimen!" (eligible man)

Etymology

From Latin specimen (“mark, sign, example”), from speciō (“observe, watch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɛsɪmɪn/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spe‧ci‧men

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

specimen (plural specimens or (extremely rare) specimina)

1. An individual instance that represents a class; an example.

   early specimens of the art of Picasso

   • 2006, Bill Neal, Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier:

     To assure a defendant's acquittal, a lawyer usually needed only to convince the jury that the victim was a pretty sorry specimen of a human being.

   1. (numismatics) A banknote printed for distribution to central banks to aid in the recognition of banknotes from a country other than their own
   2. (philately) A postage stamp sent to postmasters and postal administrations so that they are able to identify valid stamps and to avoid forgeries
2. A sample, especially one used for diagnostic analysis.
3. (humorous, often preceded with “fine”) An eligible man.

Synonyms

• sample
• individual

Derived terms

• specimen signature
• type specimen

 

Related terms

• species

Translations

example

• Armenian: օրինակ (hy) (ōrinak), նմուշ (hy) (nmuš)
• Azerbaijani: nümunə (az)
• Bulgarian: образец (bg) m (obrazec)
• Catalan: espècimen m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樣本／样本 (zh) (yàngběn)

• Czech: ukázka (cs) f, exemplář (cs) m
• Danish: eksemplar n
• Dutch: voorbeeld (nl) n
• Finnish: esimerkki (fi)
• French: spécimen (fr) m, exemple (fr) m
• German: Exemplar (de) n, Muster (de) n
• Greek: δείγμα (el) n (deígma)
• Hungarian: példány (hu)
• Japanese: 見本 (ja) (みほん, mihon)
• Korean: 표본 (ko) (pyobon)
• Latin: specimen n
• Polish: przykład (pl) m, okaz (pl) m, osobnik (pl) m (used for animals)
• Portuguese: espécime (pt) m, exemplar (pt) m
• Romanian: specimen (ro), exemplar (ro)
• Russian: образе́ц (ru) m (obrazéc), экземпля́р (ru) m (ekzɛmpljár)
• Scottish Gaelic: sampall m
• Spanish: espécimen (es) m
• Swedish: exemplar (sv) n

sample

• Azerbaijani: nümunə (az)
• Bulgarian: проба (bg) f (proba)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 標本／标本 (zh) (biāoběn)

• Czech: vzorek (cs) m
• Dutch: specimen (nl) n
• Finnish: näyte (fi), näytepala
• French: exemple (fr) m
• German: Spezimen n, Probe (de) f
• Greek: δείγμα (el) n (deígma)
• Hungarian: minta (hu)
• Indonesian: spesimen (id)
• Italian: campione (it) m
• Japanese: 標本 (ja) (ひょうほん, hyōhon)
• Korean: 표본 (ko) (pyobon)
• Maori: pota
• Plautdietsch: Proow f
• Polish: próbka (pl) f
• Portuguese: exemplar (pt) f, amostra (pt) f
• Russian: препара́т (ru) m (preparát), про́ба (ru) f (próba)
• Scottish Gaelic: sampall m
• Spanish: ejemplar (es) m
• Swedish: specimen (sv) c
• Vietnamese: mẫu vật

jocular: an eligible man

• Italian: esemplare (it)
• Russian: экземпля́р (ru) (ekzempljár)

Interlingua

Noun

specimen (plural specimens)

1. specimen, sample

Latin

Etymology

From speciō (“observe, watch”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.ki.men/, [ˈs̠pɛkɪmɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.t͡ʃi.men/, [ˈspɛːt͡ʃimen]

Noun

specimen n (genitive speciminis); third declension

1. mark, token, sign, indication, specimen
2. example, pattern, model
3. ornament, honor

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	specimen	specimina
Genitive	speciminis	speciminum
Dative	speciminī	speciminibus
Accusative	specimen	specimina
Ablative	specimine	speciminibus
Vocative	specimen	specimina

Descendants

• → Catalan: espècimen
• → English: specimen
• → French: spécimen
  • → French: spécimen
• → Portuguese: espécime
• → Spanish: espécimen

References

• “specimen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “specimen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• specimen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • an ideal: species optima or eximia, specimen, also simply species, forma
    
• specimen in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French spécimen.

Noun

specimen n (plural specimene)

1. specimen

Declension

Declension of specimen

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) specimen	specimenul	(niște) specimene	specimenele
genitive/dative	(unui) specimen	specimenului	(unor) specimene	specimenelor
vocative	specimenule		specimenelor