specimen
Pluralspecimens
- 1A single instance that stands as an example of a larger class or group.
Each specimen in the collection illustrates a different stage of the plant's growth.
Curators chose a single specimen to represent the entire species in the display.
Similarexample, sample, exemplar, instance, representative
Note
Latin handed English the word unchanged: specimen meant "mark, sign, example" and comes from speciō, "observe". A specimen is something you look at to learn about the rest. It takes of (specimens of the art of Picasso), and its plural is specimens; the Latin specimina is rare. Add a judging adjective, as in Bill Neal's "a pretty sorry specimen of a human being" (2006), and the word drifts toward the insult.
- 2A sample of tissue, blood, or other material, especially one collected for diagnostic testing.
The lab flagged the specimen for further testing after the initial screen.
Every specimen must be labeled with the patient's name and the collection time.
Similarsample
- 3An unpleasant or contemptible person, regarded with distaste.
What a vile specimen that man turned out to be once the money ran out.
The committee was chaired by a thoroughly disagreeable specimen nobody could stand.
Similarcharacter, creature, individual, type, customer
Note
The insult works by treating a person as a sample under glass, something to be examined and found wanting. The contempt usually comes from an adjective such as sorry or vile. The word is plainly derogatory and not for polite company. Swap in fine and you get its admiring counterpart.
- 4A banknote printed for distribution to central banks, used to help them recognize genuine notes issued by other countries.
The central bank filed each specimen to compare against suspect notes at the counter.
A mint-condition specimen of the 1950 note sold for a high price at auction.
Note
A numismatist's term for a note made to be studied rather than spent. Central banks receive these notes so they can recognize genuine foreign currency. They are usually overprinted to void their value, so collectors treat them as objects rather than money. Postal services run the same system with reference stamps.
- 5A reference example of a postage stamp that postmasters and postal administrations receive to help distinguish genuine stamps from counterfeits.
A philatelist paid a premium for the rare specimen overprinted in red ink.
Postal clerks compared the suspicious stamp against the official specimen on file.
Note
Philatelists use the word for the postal twin of the reference banknote: a stamp sent to postmasters so they know what a valid issue looks like. These stamps are often overprinted to cancel their franking value, so they cannot pay postage. For a collector, that overprint is the mark that sets one apart from an ordinary mint stamp.
- 6
Practice
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Origin
From Latin specimen ("mark, sign, example"), derived from speciō ("observe, watch").