Eximius

Eximius is a Latin adjective meaning “select, distinguished, or exceptional.” In classical Latin, it described a person or thing that had been singled out as outstanding. The masculine form is eximius, the feminine eximia, and the neuter eximum; the word is the etymological source of many scientific epithets used in taxonomy.

In biological nomenclature, eximius is commonly used as a species epithet across a range of plants, animals, and fungi. As an adjective, it agrees in gender with the genus name (for example, a masculine genus would pair with eximius, a feminine genus with eximia, and a neuter genus with eximum). Its use signals that the namer considered the species to be particularly notable or exceptional within its group.

Outside of naming, eximius may appear in Latin phrases within scholarly writing or as part of proper names that adopt Latin roots. It is not a term that circulates widely in everyday modern English outside of technical or historical contexts.

See also: Latin grammar, taxonomy and binomial nomenclature, scientific naming conventions.