Taxonomy

Taxonomy refers to the field and study of classifying living organisms based on their characteristics. All life is divided into categories of increasing specificity. The taxa, as these categories are formally called, consist of the domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species in increasing order of precision.

Carl Linnaeus pioneered this method of naming and classification in the 18th century, with books like Systema Naturae and Species Plantarum.