Synonym (taxonomy)

Okay kiddo, let me tell you about synonyms in taxonomy.

You know how we give different names to our friends or family members? Sometimes we call them by their real name and other times we use nicknames, like "sweetie" or "buddy". It's the same with animals and plants. Sometimes they have different names but they mean the same thing.

In science, we have another name for a nickname and that's called a synonym. It's when something has two different names but both names mean the exact same thing.

For example, a common animal we see a lot is a ladybug, right? But sometimes people call it a ladybird or lady beetle, which are its synonyms. They are all different names but they are synonyms because they all refer to the same little insect with a red and black spotted body.

Scientists use synonyms a lot, but they know not to get confused because they know that each synonym refers to the same thing. That's why it's important to know the synonyms for things in different languages or areas of the world so if someone uses a different name, we still know what they're talking about.