The type system is central to the scientific naming of living things (organisms). How exactly it works is different depending on exactly what living thing is considered, but in a very general (and imprecise) sense it may be said that it fixes each name "to a particular specimen", the type specimen. This helps in finding out what particular name is to be used for a particular living thing (or a group of living things, a taxon). There are international Codes of nomenclature which set out exactly how types are to be designated and used.