Taxonomy mnemonic
Several mnemonics are used to memorize the hierarchical order of taxons used in biological taxonomy. Such mnemonics are usually constructed with a series of words that begin with the letters KPCOFGS, corresponding to the initials of the primary taxonomic ranks. Words beginning with D are sometimes added to the beginning of the sequence; words beginning with S are sometimes added at the end of the sequence.
One common mnemonic is "King Philip Came Over From Great Spain." A variant that adds a letter for domain is "Dear King Phillip Came Over From Great Spain."
| Mnemonic | Common prefix | Taxon |
| Dear | D | Domain |
| King | King | Kingdom |
| Philip | Ph | Phylum |
| Came | C | Class |
| Over | O | Order |
| From | F | Family |
| Great | G | Genus |
| Spain | Sp | Species |
Possibly earlier variations are "King Philip came over for grandma's suitcase" and "King Philip came over for ginger snaps." Many other variations on the final two words exist: "grape soda," "good spaghetti," "golf sticks," etc.
Other published mnemonics include:
- "Keep pond clean or fish get sick"
- "Drunken kangaroos punch children on family game shows" — seen on an episode of the YouTube series "The Game Theorists"