Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “generic” come from?

Generic comes from Middle French générique, from Latin genus meaning a kind or class, from Proto-Italic genos, from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- meaning to produce or beget.

generic (English): very comprehensive; pertaining or appropriate to...

Definitions

  1. very comprehensive; pertaining or appropriate to...

Ancestry of “generic”, step by step

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

Words derived from “generic”

  • generically
  • nongeneric
  • genericity
  • intergeneric
  • subgeneric
  • genericness
  • genericism
  • multigeneric
  • genericide
  • intrageneric
  • biogeneric
  • monogeneric
  • infrageneric
  • suprageneric
  • bigeneric
  • polygeneric
  • trigeneric
  • genericization
  • pseudogeneric
  • cogeneric
  • genericize
  • supergeneric
  • heterogeneric
  • semigeneric
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- →