The scientific name of an organism is written in Latin or Latinized form.
This tradition stems from the historical use of Latin as the universal language of science and scholarship. Latin allows scientists from different regions and languages to communicate clearly and consistently about species. The naming system, known as binomial nomenclature, was developed by Carl Linnaeus and involves a two-part name:
- Genus (capitalized)
- Species (lowercase)
For example, the scientific name of humans is Homo sapiens.
