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Home / The Definition of Genus in Biology

The Definition of Genus in Biology

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Borrowed from Latin genus ( " birth, origin, a race, sort, kind " ) from the root gen- in Latin gignere, Old Latin gegnere ( " to beget, produce " ). Doublet of gender, genre , and kin.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • ( UK ) enPR: jēn'-əs, jĕn'-əs, IPA(key): /ˈdʒiːnəs/, /ˈdʒɛnəs/
  • ( US ) enPR: jēn'-əs, IPA(key): /ˈdʒiːnəs/
  • Rhymes: -iːnəs

Noun [edit]

genus (plural genera or ( both nonstandard ) genuses or genusses)

  1. ( biology, taxonomy ) A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below family (Lat. familia) and above species.
    All magnolias belong to the genus Magnolia.
    Other species of the genus Bos are often called cattle or wild cattle.
    There are only two genera and species of seadragons.

    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 6:

      Müller […] criticized the division of the "Jubuleae" into two families and he cited Jubula as an annectant genus.

    1. A taxon at this rank.
  2. A group with common attributes.

    • 1945, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, page 655:

      Recollection is one of a whole genus of effects which are more or less peculiar to the phenomena that we naturally call "mental."

  3. ( topology, graph theory, algebraic geometry ) A natural number representing any of several related measures of the complexity of a given manifold or graph.
  4. ( semantics ) Within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept.

Usage notes [edit]

  • ( biology, taxonomy, rank in the classification of organisms ) : See generic name, binomial nomenclature.

Synonyms [edit]

  • See also Thesaurus:class

Hyponyms [edit]

  • ( topology, graph theory ) : Euler genus

Derived terms [edit]

  • genus alternas
  • intergenus
  • summum genus

[edit]

  • gender
  • general
  • generate
  • generation
  • generic
  • genocide
  • genre
  • infrageneric

Translations [edit]

rank in a taxonomic classification between family and species

  • Afrikaans: genus  (af), geslag  (af)
  • Albanian: gjini  (sq) f
  • Arabic: جِنْس‎ (ar) m ( jins )
  • Armenian: ցեղ  (hy) ( cʿeł )
  • Azerbaijani: cins  (az)
  • Belarusian: род m ( rod )
  • Bengali: গণ ( gôn ), বর্গ ( bôrg )
  • Bulgarian: род  (bg) m ( rod )
  • Burmese: မျိုးစု  (my) ( myui:cu. )
  • Catalan: gènere  (ca) m
  • Chinese:
    Cantonese: 屬, 属 ( suk6 )
    Mandarin: 屬  (zh), 属  (zh) ( shǔ )
    Min Nan: 屬  (zh-min-nan), 属 ( sio̍k )
  • Czech: rod  (cs) m
  • Danish: slægt c , genus  (da) n
  • Dutch: geslacht  (nl) n
  • Esperanto: genro  (eo)
  • Estonian: perekond  (et)
  • Finnish: suku  (fi)
  • French: genre  (fr) m
  • Galician: xénero  (gl) m
  • Georgian: გვარი ( gvari )
  • German: Gattung  (de) f
  • Greek: γένος  (el) n ( génos )
  • Hindi: वंश  (hi) m ( vanś )
  • Hungarian: nemzetség  (hu)
  • Icelandic: ættkvísl  (is) f
  • Ido: genero  (io)
  • Irish: géineas m
  • Italian: genere  (it) m
  • Japanese: 属  (ja) ( ぞく, zoku )
  • Kazakh: тұқымдас ( tuqımdas )
  • Khmer: ពួក  (km) ( pouk )
  • Korean: 속  (ko) ( sok )
  • Kyrgyz: уруу  (ky) ( uruu )
  • Lao: ຈຳພວກ ( cham phūak ), ຈຳພວກ ( cham phūak ), ຊາດ  (lo) ( sāt ), ຊາຕິ ( sā ti )
  • Macedonian: род m ( rod )
  • Malagasy: karazana  (mg)
  • Malay: genus
  • Maori: puninga
  • Mongolian: төрөл  (mn) ( töröl )
  • Norwegian:
    Bokmål: slekt m or f
  • Occitan: genre  (oc)
  • Persian: سرده‎ (fa) ( sarde ), جنس‎ (fa) ( jens )
  • Polish: rodzaj  (pl) m
  • Portuguese: gênero  (pt) m
  • Romanian: gen  (ro) n
  • Russian: род  (ru) m ( rod )
  • Rusyn: род m ( rod )
  • Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic: ро̑д m
    Roman: rȏd  (sh) m
  • Slovak: rod  (sk) m
  • Slovene: rod m
  • Sorbian:
    Lower Sorbian: rod m
    Upper Sorbian: ród m
  • Spanish: género  (es) m
  • Swahili: jenasi
  • Swedish: släkte  (sv)
  • Tagalog: urihay
  • Tajik: ҷинс  (tg) ( jins )
  • Telugu: ప్రజాతి  (te) ( prajāti )
  • Thai: สกุล  (th) ( sà-gun )
  • Turkish: cins  (tr)
  • Ukrainian: рід m ( rid )
  • Urdu: جنس‎ (ur) ( jins )
  • Uzbek: jins  (uz), urugʻ  (uz)
  • Vietnamese: chi  (vi)
  • Volapük: bid  (vo)

group with common attributes

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

See also [edit]

  • ( semantics ) : differentia
  • ( biological taxa ) :
  • domain
  • kingdom
  • phylum/division
  • class
  • order
  • family
  • supergenus
  • genus
    • subgenus, section, series
  • species

Further reading [edit]

  • genus in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • genus in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams [edit]

  • Negus, negus

Danish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Borrowed from Latin genus.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɡeːnus/, [ˈɡ̊eːnus]

Noun [edit]

genus n (plural indefinite genus or genera)

  1. ( biology, taxonomy ) genus
    Synonym: slægt
  2. ( grammar ) gender
    Synonym: køn

Further reading [edit]

  • Wikipedia-logo.svg genus on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia da

Dutch [edit]

Etymology [edit]

Borrowed from Latin genus.

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɣeː.nʏs/
  • Hyphenation: ge‧nus

Noun [edit]

genus n (plural genera)

  1. ( botany ) a rank in a taxonomic classification, in between family and species.
    Synonym: geslacht
  2. ( botany ) a taxon at this rank
    Synonym: geslacht
  3. ( linguistics ) gender
    Synonym: geslacht

Derived terms [edit]

  • subgenus
  • supergenus

Finnish [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡenus/, [ˈɡe̞nus̠]
  • Rhymes: -enus
  • Syllabification: ge‧nus

Noun [edit]

genus

  1. ( botany ) Synonym of suku ( " genus " )
  2. ( topology ) genus
    Synonym: suku

Declension [edit]

Inflection of genus (Kotus type 39/vastaus, no gradation)
nominative genus genukset
genitive genuksen genusten
genuksien
partitive genusta genuksia
illative genukseen genuksiin
singular plural
nominative genus genukset
accusative nom. genus genukset
gen. genuksen
genitive genuksen genusten
genuksien
partitive genusta genuksia
inessive genuksessa genuksissa
elative genuksesta genuksista
illative genukseen genuksiin
adessive genuksella genuksilla
ablative genukselta genuksilta
allative genukselle genuksille
essive genuksena genuksina
translative genukseksi genuksiksi
instructive — genuksin
abessive genuksetta genuksitta
comitative — genuksineen
Possessive forms of genus (type vastaus)
possessor singular plural
1st person genukseni genuksemme
2nd person genuksesi genuksenne
3rd person genuksensa

Latin [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • ( Classical ) IPA(key): /ˈɡe.nus/, [ˈɡɛnʊs̠]
  • ( Ecclesiastical ) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒe.nus/, [ˈd͡ʒɛːnus]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Proto-Italic *genos, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os ( " race " ), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ( " to produce, beget " ); compare also gēns, from the same root. Cognates include Ancient Greek γένος ( génos, " race, stock, kin, kind " ), Sanskrit जनस् ( jánas, " race, class of beings " ), Proto-Celtic *genos ( " birth; family " ), and English kin.

Noun [edit]

genus n (genitive generis); third declension

  1. birth, origin, lineage, descent
  2. kind, type, class

    • 27 BCE – 25 BCE , Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita libri 26.1:

      huic generi militum senatus eundem, quem Cannensibus, finem statuerat militiae.
      For this class of soldier the senate had established a limit in duration to their military service, which was the same as the men at Cannae.
  3. species ( of animal or plant ), race ( of people )

    • 70 BCE – 19 BCE , Virgil, Georgics III:

      omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque
      et genus aequoreum pecudes pictaeque volucres
      in furias ignemque ruunt
      So far does every species on earth of man and beast,
      whether the aquatic species, livestock, or painted-winged,
      collapse into the frenzies and the fire [of sex].
  4. set, group ( with common attributes )
  5. ( grammar ) gender
    • 6th century, Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus (attributed): Commentarium de oratione et de octo partibus orationis. In: „Patrologiae cursus completus sive Bibliotheca universalis, integra, uniformis, commoda, oeconomica, omnium ss. patrum, doctorum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum qui ab aevo apostolico ad innocentii III tempora floruerunt; […] . Series prima, in qua prodeunt patres, doctores scriptoresque ecclesiae latinae a tertulliano ad gregorium magnum. Accurante J.-P. Migne, cursuum completorum in singulos scientiae ecclesiaticae ramos editore. Patrologiae tomus LXX. Cassiodori tomus posterior. – Magni Aurelii Cassiodori senatoris, viri patricii, consularis, et vivariensis abbatis opera omnia in duos tomos distributa, ad fidem manuscriptiorum codicum emendata et aucta, notis, observationibus et indicibus locupletata, praecedente auctoris vita, quae nunc primum in lucem prodit cum dissertatione de ejus monarchatu. Opera et studio J. Garetii monarchi ordinis sancti Benedicti e congregatione sancti mauri. Nobis autem curantibus accesserunt complexiones in epistolas b. Pauli quas edidit et annotavit scipio Maffeius. Tomus posterior. – Parisiis, venit apud editorem, in via dicta d'amboise, près la barriere d'enfer, ou petit-montrouge. 1847", p. 1225
      Genera nominum sunt sex: masculinum, ut hic Cato; femininum, ut haec musa; neutrum, ut hoc monile; commune duorum generum, ut hic et haec sacerdos: trium generum, ut hic, et haec, et hoc felix; epicoenon, quod Latine promiscuum dicitur, ut passer, aquila.
      Nouns have six genders: masculine, e.g. hic Cato 'this man Cato'; feminine, e.g. haec musa 'this muse'; neuter, e.g. hoc monile 'this necklace'; common to two genders, e.g. hic et haec sacerdos 'this priest or priestess'; of three genders, e.g. hic, et haec, et hoc felix 'this lucky man, woman or thing'; epicene, called promiscous in Latin, e.g. passer 'sparrow', aquila 'eagle'.
    • 16th century, Andreas Semperius (a.k.a. Andreas Sampere, Andreu Sempere): Andreae Semperii Valentini Alcodiani, doctoris medici, prima grammaticae latinae institutio tribus libris explicata, Majorca/Mallorca, 1819, p.19
      Genera nominum, septem sunt. Masculinum, cui praeponitur hic: ut hic Dominus. Foemineum, cui praeponitur haec: ut haec musa. Neutrum, cui praeponuntur hoc: ut hoc templum. Commune, cui praeponuntur hic, & haec: ut hic, & haec Sacerdos. Omne, cui praeponuntur hic, haec, hoc, vel per tres varias voces inflectitur: ut hic, haec, hoc felix, bonus, bona, bonum. Dubium, quod modo masculinum, modo faemineum, apud Oratores etiam invenitur: ut hic, vel haec dies. Promiscuum, in quo sexus uterque per alterum apparet: ut hic passer, haec aquila, hic lepus.
      Nouns have seven genders. Masculine, which you can precede with hic: hic dominus 'this Lord'. Feminine, which you can precede with haec, e.g. haec musa 'this muse'. Neuter, which you can precede with hoc, e.g. hoc templum 'this temple'. Common, which you can precede with hic and haec: hic & haec sacerdos 'this male or female priest'. Universal, which you can precede with all three of hic, haec, hoc, or which vary in three forms, e.g. hic, haec, hoc felix 'this lucky man, woman, thing', hic bonus, haec bona, hoc bonum 'this good man, good woman, good thing'. Doubtful, which in the orators can be found to be sometimes masculine, sometimes feminine, e.g. hic, vel haec dies 'this day'. Promiscuous, in which a gender appears instead of another, e.g. hic passer 'this sparrow' (always masculine), haec aquila 'this eagle' (always feminine), hic lepus 'this rabbit' (always masculine).
  6. ( grammar ) subtype of word

    • Aelius Donatus, Ars Minor De Verbo:

      Genera verborum quot sunt? Quinque. Quae? Activa passiva neutra deponentia communia.
      How many types of verbs are there? Five. Which ones? Active, passive, neuter, deponent, common.

    • Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentarius in Artem Donati :

      Verborum genera quinque sunt, activa passiva neutra communia deponentia.
      There are five types of verbs: active, passive, neuter, common, deponent.
Declension [edit]

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative genus genera
Genitive generis generum
Dative generī generibus
Accusative genus genera
Ablative genere generibus
Vocative genus genera
Hyponyms [edit]
  • ( grammar, genera nominum ) : [genus] fēminīnum, [genus] masculīnum, [genus] neutrum, genus commūne, genus omne
  • ( grammar, genera verborum ) : [genus] āctīvum, [genus] passīvum, [genus] neutrum, [genus] commūne, [genus] dēpōnēns, [genus] medium
Derived terms [edit]
  • bigener
  • congener
  • dēgener
  • generālis
  • generātim
  • generō
  • generōsus
  • genus verbī
  • suī generis
Descendants [edit]
  • Arabic: جِنْس‎ ( jins )
  • Catalan: gens, gènere
  • English: genus, generic, genre, generate, gender
  • Franco-Provençal: gins ( negative particle in ne... (pâs) gins de )
  • French: genre
    • Franco-Provençal: janro
  • Galician: xendra, xénero
  • German: Genus
  • Irish: géineas
  • Italian: genere
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kjønn
  • Portuguese: género
  • Romanian: gen
  • Spanish: género
  • Swedish: genus

Etymology 2 [edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun [edit]

genūs

  1. genitive singular of genū

References [edit]

  • genus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • genus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • genus in Charles du Fresne du Cange's Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • an Englishman by birth: natione, genere Anglus
    • the position of the lower classes: condicio ac fortuna hominum infimi generis
    • from this point of view; similarly: quo in genere
    • from every point of view; looked at in every light: omni ex parte; in omni genere; omnibus rebus
    • to be engaged in any branch of study: in aliquo litterarum genere versari
    • the species is subordinate the genus: partes generibus subiectae sunt
    • to differ qualitatively not quantitatively: genere, non numero or magnitudine differre
    • this word is neuter: hoc vocabulum generis neutri (not neutrius ) est )
    • to be of noble family: generis antiquitate florere
    • of illustrious family: nobili, honesto, illustri loco or genere natus
    • people of every rank: homines omnis generis
    • the aristocracy (as a social class): nobiles; nobilitas; qui nobilitate generis excellunt
    • (ambiguous) the male, female sex: sexus (not genus ) virilis, muliebris
    • (ambiguous) to choose a career, profession: genus vitae (vivendi) or aetatis degendae deligere
    • (ambiguous) to analyse a general division into its specific parts: genus universum in species certas partiri et dividere (Or. 33. 117)
    • (ambiguous) to transplant to Rome one of the branches of poesy: poesis genus ad Romanos transferre
    • (ambiguous) style: genus dicendi (scribendi); oratio
    • (ambiguous) elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    • (ambiguous) a running style: fusum orationis genus
    • (ambiguous) a rough, unpolished style: inconditum dicendi genus (Brut. 69. 242)
    • (ambiguous) a bombastic style: inflatum orationis genus
    • (ambiguous) to adopt the language of everyday life: accedere ad cotidiani sermonis genus

Norwegian Nynorsk [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin genus.

Noun [edit]

genus m or n (definite singular genusen or genuset, indefinite plural genera or genus , definite plural genera or generaa or genusa or genusane)

  1. ( biology, taxonomy ) genus
  2. ( grammar ) gender
  3. ( grammar ) voice

References [edit]

  • "genus" in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish [edit]

Noun [edit]

genus n

  1. ( grammar ) gender (division of nouns and pronouns)
  2. (social) gender, sex (social issues of being man or woman)

Usage notes [edit]

  • Biological gender is called kön. The Latin word genus is used for grammar and more recently for gender studies.

Declension [edit]

Declension of genus
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative genus genuset genus genusen
Genitive genus genusets genus genusens

Synonyms [edit]

  • ( grammar ) : kön

[edit]

  • genusforskning
  • genusfråga
  • genuspedagogik
  • genusperspektiv
  • genusteori
  • genusväxling
  • genusändelse

References [edit]

  • genus in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams [edit]

  • sugen, unges

The Definition of Genus in Biology

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genus