especie
/esˈpeθje/feminine
The Spanish word for species is especie.
especie is a noun used to describe a group of plants or animals having similar appearance.
Meaning: group of plants or animals having similar appearance (noun)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Spain, the word raza is primarily used to refer to animal breeds rather than species.
How does it change in a sentence?
especie is a feminine noun. Because of this, you must use the feminine article una instead of the masculine uno when saying 'a species'. The plural form of especie is especies.
How do you pronounce it?
/esˈpeθje/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly treat especie as a masculine noun because of the English word 'species', but it is always feminine in Spanish.
Did you know?
- In older Spanish texts or legal contexts, especie can refer to 'cash' or 'money', as seen in the phrase pago en especie, which means payment in kind rather than currency.
- The Spanish word especie shares the same Latin root as the English word 'special', as both stem from the idea of a 'particular kind' or 'mark'.
- While especie is used for biology, Spanish writers use estirpe to describe a species when referring to the nobility of a family line.
Examples in context
- Tom sufre de disforia de especie.Tom suffers from species dysphoria.This sentence illustrates the use of especie in a medical or psychological context.Tatoeba #10562681 by Shishir, translation #10562640 by soliloquist
- El dodo es una especie ya extinta.The dodo is an already extinct species.This sentence shows how to describe an extinct especie.Tatoeba #1248842 by wallebot, translation #1248757 by alec
- Es una especie en peligro de extinción.It is an endangered species.This sentence demonstrates how to describe an endangered especie.Tatoeba #898401 by Shishir, translation #797152 by U2FS
- Especies en peligro de extinciónEndangered species
- Hay muchos tipos de pájaros en este parque.There are many bird species in this park.
- ¿Qué clase de animal es ese?What species is that?
- Exploramos diferentes clases de peces durante el buceo.We explored different fish species while diving.
- El género Homo incluye varias especies de humanos primitivos.The genus Homo includes several species of early humans.
- 47 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Sofía and Mateo are looking at a biology book in a library.
- Sofía¿Qué especie es este pájaro?What species is this bird?
- MateoNo estoy seguro de la especie.I am not sure of the species.
- SofíaParece una especie muy rara.It looks like a very rare species.
- MateoBusquemos en el libro para saberlo.Let's look in the book to find out.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “species” translations and entries especie, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries especie, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
