Etymology

genus

ge·nus
G2E1N1U1S1

Today it means: A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below family (Lat. familia) and above species. Full definition →

Latin genus ← Proto-Italic *genos ← Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁os
  3. Proto-Italic*genos
  4. Latingenus
  5. English todaygenus

Borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, origin, a race, sort, kind”) from the root gen- in Latin gignō (“to beget, produce”). Doublet of gender and genre, further related to kin.

Words from the same roots

Latingenus all →

genericextrageneousgenerification

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.