The king vulture was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae" as "Vultur papa", the type specimen originally collected in Suriname. It was reassigned to the genus "Sarcoramphus" in 1805 by French zoologist André Marie Constant Duméril. The generic name is a New Latin compound formed from the Greek words σάρξ ("sarx", "flesh", the combining form of which is σαρκο-) and ῥάμφος ("rhamphos", "crooked beak of bird of prey"). The genus name is often misspelled as "Sarcorhamphus", improperly retaining the Greek rough breathing despite agglutination with the previous word-element. The bird was also assigned to the genus "Gyparchus" by Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger in 1841, but this classification is not used in modern literature since "Sarcoramphus" has priority as the earlier name. The species name is derived from Latin word "papa" "bishop", alluding the bird's plumage resembling the clothing of one. The king vulture's closest living relative is the Andean condor, "Vultur gryphus". Some authors have even put these species in a separate subfamily from the other New World vultures, though most authors consider this subdivision unnecessary.