Thursday, May 07, 2009

Non. Mai.

sui generis
Literal translation: of its own kind
More common meaning: unique
In an English sentence: My dog is of no known breed; he is sui generis.

In Linnaeus’ system of binomial nomenclature, each plant and animal has both a genus and a species name. The Latin word genus means “kind” or “sort,” and sui means “of its own.”

From Elizabeth Heimbach's book Latin Everywhere, Everyday

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