a major taxonomic division of living organisms that contain one or more classes. An example is the phylum Arthropoda (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, etc, and myriapods)
2.
any analogous group, such as a group of related language families or linguistic stocks
Word origin
C19: New Latin, from Greek phulon race
phylum in American English
(ˈfaɪləm)
nounWord forms: pluralˈphyla (ˈfaɪlə)
1.
a major category in the classification of living organisms, esp. animals, ranking above a class and below a kingdom: it can include one class or many similar classes: the Latinized phylum names are capitalized but not italicized (Ex.: Arthropoda, arthropods)
see also division (sense 7)
2.
a.
a language stock
b. Loosely
a language family
Word origin
ModL, coined by Cuvier < Gr phylon, tribe: see phylo-