giganteus

Giganteus is a Latin adjectival epithet used in the scientific names of many organisms to indicate notable size. The word derives from Latin giganteus, meaning “giant” or “giant-sized,” and it is commonly applied across plants, animals, and fungi to signal large habitus relative to related taxa.

Grammatically, giganteus is an adjective that must agree with the gender of the genus name. In botanical names, the endings vary as giganteus (masculine), gigantea (feminine), or giganteum (neuter), according to the genus gender. In zoological nomenclature, the same gender agreement rules apply.

Because it is a descriptive epithet rather than a taxon, there is no single “giganteus” species. It appears in many different genera. A widely recognized example is Helianthus giganteus, a tall perennial in the sunflower family native to North America. The epithet is also found in other lineages, illustrating the broad usage of size-related Latin descriptors in scientific naming.

See also: binomial nomenclature, Latin grammar in scientific naming, epithet (taxonomy).