"Transmission" by Hari Kunzru: “Mr. Khan’s pockmarked face turned an unnerving purple and he embarked on a speech that commenced as a taxonomy of those who rejected the nurturing breast of Mother India…” (23).

In a broader sense it is most commonly known as the science of classification, but more strictly it means the classification of living and extinct organisms. Taxonomy is of Greek origin and translates as taxis (arrangement) and nomos (law). Almost anything can be classified under a taxonomic scheme.

[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110579/taxonomy]