In traditional taxonomy, taxa are ranked according to their level of inclusiveness. Thus a genus contains one or more species, a family includes one or more genera, and so on.

position in a social hierarchy; "the British are more aware of social status than Americans are"

a number of persons forming a separate class in a social hierarchy or in any graded body.

The level at which a taxon lies in the zoological or botanical hierarchy (e.g. all families are at the same rank, which lies between subfamily and superfamily)

The level or position occupied by a category in the taxonomic hierarchy.

In botanical nomenclature, a taxon is usually assigned to a rank in a hierarchy. The basic rank is that of species, and if an organism is named it most often will receive a species name. The next most important rank is that of genus: if an organism is given a species name it will at the same time be assigned to a genus, as the genus name is part of the species name.

In zoology, a taxon is usually assigned to a rank in a hierarchy. The ICZN divides names in "family-group names", "genus group-names" and "species-group names".