phylum

1. (taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class; also called a divisio or a division, especially in describing plants; a taxon at that rankExamples: "Mammals belong to the phylum Chordata."; "While biologists are perpetually finding new species, they can almost always fit the organism into one of the existing taxonomic pigeonholes by which scientists classify life forms. The discovery of an organism so unusual that it needs its own phylum is an extremely rare event."

2. (linguistics) A large division of possibly related languages, or a major language family which is not subordinate to another.Synonyms: superstock