specimen

UK: /ˈspɛsɪmɪn/ US: /ˈspɛsəmən/ ,(spes′ə mən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

spec•i•men /ˈspɛsəmən/   n. [countable]

1. a part or an individual taken as being an example of a whole mass or number of things;
   typical animal, mineral, etc.:
   The archaeologists dug up several specimens of ancient dinosaurs.
2. Medicine, Laboratory a sample of a material for study:
   To do the test we'll need a specimen of your blood.
3. a particular kind of person:
   He's an odd specimen, isn't he?

See -spec-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

spec•i•men  (spes′ə mən), n. 

1. a part or an individual taken as exemplifying a whole mass or number;
   a typical animal, plant, mineral, part, etc.
2. Medicine, Laboratory (in medicine, microbiology, etc.) a sample of a substance or material for examination or study:
   a urine specimen; a tissue specimen.
3. a particular or peculiar kind of person.

• Latin: mark, example, indication, sign, equivalent. to speci-, stem of specere to look, regard + -men noun, nominal suffix denoting result or means
• 1600–10

Synonyms

• 1. type, model, pattern. See example. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

specimen / ˈspɛsɪmɪn/ noun

1. an individual, object, or part regarded as typical of the group or class to which it belongs
2. (as modifier): a specimen signature, a specimen page
3. a sample of tissue, blood, urine, etc, taken for diagnostic examination or evaluation
4. the whole or a part of an organism, plant, rock, etc, collected and preserved as an example of its class, species, etc
5. a person

Etymology: 17th Century: from Latin: mark, evidence, proof, from specere to look at