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espèce

species, kind

noun eh-SPEHS Less Common
Animals & Nature Environment

Usage Note

Espèce in biology means a species of living thing, but in everyday speech it more commonly means 'a kind of' or 'a sort of': une espèce de boîte ('a kind of box'). As a pejorative intensifier, espèce de...! ('you... !') followed by an insult is very common in colloquial French, e.g. espèce d'idiot. Note the word is always feminine even when referring to masculine things.

Examples

"Cette espèce de plante est très rare."

Natural Translation

This species of plant is very rare.

Literal Translation

This species of plant is very rare

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