Word.ws English Dictionary

biocode

biocode noun: a unified taxonomic system, such as the BioCode. Also the alternative form of bio-code.

Noun

biocode (plural biocodes)

  1. A unified taxonomic system, such as the BioCode.
    • The most valuable innovation of the new API 20C was the development of the biocode system.1991, G.A. Land, M.R. McGinnis, I.F. Salkin, “Evaluation of commercial kits and systems for the rapid identification and biotyping of yeasts”, in Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology and...
    • Pettitt (1990) has advocated the use of sort/search codes to aid the computerisation of specimen records, and Heppell (1990) has outlined a biocode system for taxonomic names.1994, Geoff Stansfield, John Mathias, Gordon Reid, Manual of Natural History Curatorship, →ISBN, page 92
  2. A single numeric value calculated from a collection of biometric data; profile.
    • Based on the coded values for sensitivity or resistance to the six chemicals, a six-digit biocode or profile was prepared.1992, Mycopathologia, page 13
    • Some biocodes for new species give identifications for species already included in the database. In these cases, additional tests must be performed to arrive at the correct identification. However, some new species do generate biocodes that are unique.2006, Elmer W. Koneman, Koneman's Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology, →ISBN
  3. An arbitrary number or string for identifying a biological organism.
    • The number given before the generic name is the biocode used in the museum for cataloguing purposes.1983, David Heppell, Shelagh Mary Smith, Recent Cephalopoda in the collections of the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh
  4. The genomes of one or more interacting organisms.
    • "God code doesn't necessarily prove that God exists,” Schiller explained. “The God code is merely a massive compilation of thousands of different biocodes that have been collected by Tento's main bioscanner at TIS."2008, Jason Egroff, The Tento Saga: Mankind's Perilous Journey, →ISBN, page 202
    • Increasingly, we are moving from sequencing one genome at a time to groups of genomes. In the future, we might all have our complete biocode sequenced (all our genomes). A biocode could be the genomes of any organism, a bioreactor, a building, or a larger system, such as the island of Moorea.2015, Dawn Field, Neil Davies, Biocode: The New Age of Genomics, →ISBN
  5. Any water-soluble bioreactive substance.
    • A variety of other biocodes such as ozone may prove to be advantageous in RO systems but have not been adequately studied.1992, United States Congress House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Science, Desalination Research
    • Basic preparatory activities aimed to preserve archaeological wood are usually either biocode or stabilizing conservation methods (Dyrkowa, Jagielska 1981).1993, Annals of Warsaw Agricultural University, SGGW-AR

Verb

biocode (third-person singular simple present biocodes, present participle biocoding, simple past and past participle biocoded)

  1. To encode using biological signals or markers.
    • In fact, then there is no reason why complex carbohydrates should shy at competition with nucleic acids and proteins for the top spot in high-density biocoding.2011, Hans-Joachim Gabius, The Sugar Code: Fundamentals of Glycosciences, →ISBN
    • The hormone, then, operates according to a logic of tele-action: the capacity to modify an organ by the emission of biocoded information from some distance away.2013, Paul B. Preciado, Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopronographic Era, →ISBN, page 160
  2. To classify biological organisms by assigning biocodes to them.
    • And the money's still flooding in, there'll be biocoding work for the next decade.2013, Richard Morgan, The Complete SF Collection, →ISBN
    • The selection rule thus gained yields a more logically primal code derivation than Crick's more formal approach, and also provides certain powerful testing criteria, which eventually, will enable us in turn even to supersede them in solving this fundamental biocoding problem.2013, Charles Arthur Musés, Aspects of the Theory of Artificial Intelligence, →ISBN

Proper noun capitalized: BioCode

BioCode

  1. A unified code for taxonomic nomenclature first proposed in 1997.
    • In the light of the proposed BioCode (see Greuter et al. 1998) would culton be a suitable term for domesticated "taxa" of biology in general?1999, Susyn Andrews, Alan Leslie, Crinan Alexander, Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants, →ISBN
    • Others, however, argue that the BioCode would increase nomnclatural instability and generate confusion by the use of new rules and name changes (Brummitt 1996).2002, Jules Janick, Horticultural Reviews - Volume 28, →ISBN, page 45

Also used as

biocode is also the alternative form of bio-code.

Examples of biocode in a sentence

  • A prerequisite for such a biocode is to compile a list of all valid names for living and extinct beings.2005, ASM News - Volume 71, Issues 1-6, page 276:
  • These scores are added to generate a biocode that can be matched to a database of biocodes to give the identity of the organism tested.2014, Mary Louise Turgeon, Linne & Ringsrud's Clinical Laboratory Science, →ISBN:
  • NACWA has also been a participant in discussions with EPA on pennethrin-impregnated clothing and copper and silver biocodes that may create problems for aquatic life.2008, Emerging Contaminants in U.S. Waters:
  • But after an administration of nanites preprogrammed with epithelial biocodes cleared him right up, he'd been completely sold on the technology.2017, Saul Tanpepper, Control: The Post-Apocalyptic Thriller:

Forms of biocode

Noun
pluralbiocodes
Verb
third-person singular presentbiocodes
present participlebiocoding
past participlebiocoded
pastbiocoded

Origin of biocode

From bio- + code.

Questions about biocode

What does biocode mean?
Biocode means a unified taxonomic system, such as the BioCode.
How do you use biocode in a sentence?
A prerequisite for such a biocode is to compile a list of all valid names for living and extinct beings.
What part of speech is biocode?
Biocode can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
What is the plural of biocode?
The plural of biocode is biocodes.

Words near biocode in the dictionary

  1. bioclusters
  2. bioclutter
  3. biocoated
  4. biocoating
  5. biocoatings
  6. biocode
  7. biocoded
  8. biocodes
  9. biocoding
  10. biocoenological
  11. biocoenologically

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: biocode (page history and authors); BioCode (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “biocode.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/biocode. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.