Where does “gender” come from?

Gender comes from Middle English gendren, from Middle French gendre, from Latin genus meaning kind or type, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- meaning to produce or beget.

gender (English): kind

Definitions

  1. kind

Ancestry of “gender”, step by step

gender traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle English gender

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishgender—
2Middle Frenchgendre—
3Latingenusbirth, origin, lineage, descent; kind, type,...
4Proto-Italicgenoslineage, origin
5Proto-Indo-Europeanǵénh₁osrace, lineage
6Proto-Indo-Europeanǵenh₁-to produce, to beget, to give birth

via Indonesian gender

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Indonesiangendergender
2Javaneseꦒꦼꦤ꧀ꦢꦺꦂ—
3Old Javanesegĕnder—

Words derived from “gender”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- →