looking for a collection of words that define a taxonomy

Question

I'm looking for a set of words that define a logical, hierarchical structure to define a simple 3 level taxonomy, but it needs to comply with the following requirements:

1. The words must be related, like for example category->subcategory or species->subspecies->family are.
2. The words should be very general, so I can apply them to any subject.
3. The hierarchy must be well-defined and acknowledged.

I was thinking about something like theme -> topic -> subject, but one could argue that topic and subject are the same thing. Is there another combination I could use? This comes from someone who does programming for a living, where this kind of things are very usual and easy to achieve.

Thanks.

Answer 1

From a clarifying comment under the question:

It's diverse, up to the user. It could literally be anything. Imagine any possible taxonomy combination (animals, geography, computers, space, art), but abstract. Top-level, mid-level and low-level are "correct", I was just hoping there are better examples.

Based on this, I suggest general > intermediate > specific.

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From Merriam-Webster:

• General
  1 : involving, applicable to, or affecting the whole
• Intermediate
  1 : being or occurring at the middle place, stage, or degree or between extremes
• Specific
  1 a : constituting or falling into a specifiable category
  1 b : sharing or being those properties of something that allow it to be referred to a particular category

Answer 2

What you’re describing is a database: Database, Table (or Collection for non-tabular data), Record. Are you reinventing the database management system? Are you making a database of databases? Perhaps you could be making a database for each database instead of filling one database with a bunch of self-managed databases.

Now, if something distinguishes your information from the database you're putting it in, I'd recommend using that distinction as a prefix, at least internally (e.g. user_database or dynamic_database.) Hard to name abstractions are often the wrong abstractions, so if there's no distinction, that's a sign you don't need to create a separate thing.

Finally, you could use a metaphor from books: Library > Series > Volume

Answer 3

thanks for your suggestions all. I decided to go with a slightly different approach, and am currently using category -> subcategory -> topic -> subtopic. the first half is more generic, the second half narrows it down. they're both word/subword and it works for me, giving me even more granularity than 3 levels. I appreciate your time.