A specimen is a portion/quantity of material for use in testing, examination, or study.
- Biology
A laboratory specimen is an individual animal, part of an animal, a plant, part of a plant, or a microorganism, used as a representative to study the properties of the whole population of that species or subspecies. When a taxon is described, it is typically based on a single specimen, then referred to as the holotype.
- Medical laboratory
- A sample taken from a patient, most frequently blood, urine, or semen.
- Geology
- A piece of a type of rock or mineral taken from the earth. This can be anything from a jasper to a diamond.
- Typography
- A type specimen is a publication that shows the available glyphs in a typeface, including variations used for ligatures and special ornaments.
- In handwriting recognition, forensic handwriting analysis and signature verification, the term sample refers to a specimen of handwriting.
- Finance
- Central Banks send so-called specimen banknote (or specimens) to other banks before issuing a new banknote. To avoid its use as a legal tender note the banknote is perforated or punched, given a serial number of 0.9999999999 (all nines) or 0000000000 (all zeroes) or is overprinted with the word Specimen or Cancelled in any language.
Famous quotes containing the word specimen:
“Every young sculptor seems to think that he must give the world some specimen of indecorous womanhood, and call it Eve, Venus, a Nymph, or any name that may apologize for a lack of decent clothing.”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)
“The rare,
Uninteresting specimen might still be putting out shoots, for all we know.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)