Pokémon category

In a Pokémon's Pokédex entry, the category[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] (Japanese: 分類 classification) is a name which identifies the Pokémon based on one of its defining biological characteristics. Most often, the defining traits are part of the Pokémon’s physiology, special abilities, or behavior. It was previously also known as species.[9][10][11][12]

Because categories reference real-world animals, they may be viewed as metatextual clues about the inspiration for Pokémon, instead of in-universe data.

Before Generation III, the category was shown by just seeing the Pokémon, rather than upon catching it.

In Pokémon games prior to Generation III, the character limit for a category name was ten characters. This has since increased from Generation III onwards, with the longest English category name being observed to be thirteen characters long. In other languages, the longest category name is Pachirisu's German category "Elektrohörnchen" which is 15 characters long. This includes spaces but does not include "Pokémon".