specie

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Originally in the phrase in specie; from Latin speciē, ablative singular of species. Compare payment in kind.

Noun

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specie (uncountable)

  1. Type or kind, in various uses of the phrase in specie.
  2. Money in the form of coins made from precious metal that has an intrinsic value; coinage.
    Antonym: paper
    • 1830, Joseph Plumb Martin, “Ch. IX”, in A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier:
      I received one month's pay in specie while on the march to Virginia, in the year 1781, and except that, I never received any pay worth the name while I belonged to the army.
    • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 805:
      ‘It was not money or specie he thought himself hunting!’
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 8:
      “Dick” Counterfly had absquatulated swiftly into the night, leaving his son with only a pocketful of specie and the tender admonition, “Got to ‘scram,’ kid — write if you get work.”
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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Back-formation from species (plural), the final “s” being misinterpreted as a plural ending.

Noun

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specie (plural species)

  1. (proscribed) singular of species
Usage notes
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  • Although in wide use, this is universally considered by prescriptive references to be an error.

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin speciēs.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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specie f (plural speciën or species)

  1. mortar (in sense of mixture of lime or cement, sand and water)
    Synonyms: metselspecie, mortel
  2. coinage, specie, coins
  3. material used in casting

Derived terms

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Italian

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Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin speciēs. Doublet of spezie.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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specie

  1. especially, particularly
    Nonostante la sua abilità, Clemens ha avuto poca fama, specie tra i suoi contemporanei.
    Despite his ability, Clemens had little fame, particularly among his contemporaries.

Derived terms

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Noun

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specie f (invariable)

  1. kind, type, sort
  2. (biology) species, strain, breed
  3. (taxonomy) species
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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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speciē

  1. ablative singular of speciēs

Preposition

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speciē (+ genitive)

  1. Under the pretext of. Under the guise of.

References

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  • specie in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) in truth; really: re (vera), reapse (opp. specie)
    • (ambiguous) apparently; to look at: specie (De Amic. 13. 47)

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin speciēs.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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specie f (plural specii)

  1. (biology) species
  2. kind, type, sort

See also

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Further reading

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