This document is intended to be an easy-to-read reference of the currently (as of 2023-06-28) recommended terms maintained as part of the [Darwin Core standard](https://www.tdwg.org/standards/dwc/) and is maintained by the [Darwin Core Maintenance Group](https://www.tdwg.org/community/dwc/).
This page is not part of the standard, but combines the normative term names and definitions with the non-normative comments and examples that are meant to help people to use the terms consistently. Definitions, comments, and examples may include namespace abbreviations (e.g., "dwc:"). These are included to show that the meaning for the word it is attached to very specifically means the term as defined in that namespace. Thus, dwc:Event means Event as defined by Darwin Core at https://dwc.tdwg.org/terms/#event.Capitalizedtermsthatfollowanamespaceabbreviation,suchasdwc:Occurrence,areDarwinCoreclassterms,whichareaspecialcategoryoftermsusedtogroupsetsofpropertyterms(termsthatbeingwithlowercasenamesthatfollowthenamespaceabbreviation,e.g.,dwc:eventID)forconvenience.Comprehensivemetadataforcurrentandobsoletetermsinhumanreadableformarefoundinthedocument[ListofDarwinCoreterms](../list/).
Additional [files with just the current term names](https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/tree/master/dist) and a [file with the full term history](https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/blob/master/vocabulary/term_versions.csv) can be found in the [Darwin Core repository](https://github.com/tdwg/dwc).
For inquiries about how to use Darwin Core, either enter an issue in the [Darwin Core Questions & Answers site](https://github.com/tdwg/dwc-qa/blob/master/README.md) or enter an issue in the [alternative form](https://tinyurl.com/darwin-qa), which will have the same effect. See the bottom of this document for how to [cite Darwin Core](#cite-darwin-core).
<tr><td>Examples</td><td>{% if examples | length == 1 %}{{ examples | first }}{% else %}<ul class="list-group list-group-flush">{% for example in examples %}<li class="list-group-item">{{ example }}</li>{% endfor %}</ul>{% endif %}</td></tr>
> Wieczorek J, Bloom D, Guralnick R, Blum S, Döring M, et al. (2012) Darwin Core: An Evolving Community-Developed Biodiversity Data Standard. PLoS ONE 7(1): e29715. <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029715>