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

   • 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 34:

     "You're a nice specimen for a clergyman," he said at length, "with your preachin" an" your psalm-singin', an" your Sunday coat on."

   • 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
   3. (derogatory) An unpleasant or contemptible person.
2. A sample, especially one used for diagnostic analysis.
3. (humorous, often preceded with “fine”) An eligible man.

Synonyms

• sample
• individual

Derived terms

• specimen bag
• 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)
• Icelandic: sýnataka
• Italian: esemplare (it) m
• 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)
• Bhojpuri: नमूना (namūnā)
• 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)
• Ido: specimeno (io)
• 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 Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈspɛ.kɪ.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈspɛː.t͡ʃi.men]

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).

	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
• → 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 (16 July 2016 (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

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	specimen	specimenul		specimene	specimenele
genitive-dative	specimen	specimenului		specimene	specimenelor
vocative	specimenule			specimenelor