Etymology

generation

gen·er·a·tion
G2E1N1E1R1A1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation. Full definition →

First used 14th c.Middle English generacioun ← Latin generātiō ← Old French generacion
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁os
  3. Proto-Italic*genos
  4. Latingenus
  5. Latingenerō
  6. Latingenerātiō
  7. Old Frenchgeneracion
  8. Latingenerātiō
  9. Middle Englishgeneracioun
  10. English todaygeneration

Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Old French generacion, and its etymon Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 14th c. The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
  • from 14th c. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.
  • from 14th c. Race, family; breed.
  • from 14th c. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit.
  • 15th–19th c. Descendants, progeny; offspring.
  • from 17th c. The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time.
  • from 20th c. A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.