# generation
## English
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate +‎ -ion.

### Pronunciation

* (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪʃən
* Hyphenation: gen‧er‧a‧tion

### Noun

generation (countable and uncountable, plural generations)
* The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation. [from 14th c.]
** 1832, Charles Lyell, chapter XIII, in Principles of Geology […] , volume II, London: John Murray, page 210:The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations […]
* The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation. [from 14th c.]
** 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.
** 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.
** 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter V.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 192:According to that Cabaliſticall Dogma: If Abram had not had this Letter [i.e., ה (he)] added unto his Name he had remained fruitleſſe, and without the power of generation: […] So that being ſterill before, he received the power of generation from that meaſure and manſion in the Archetype; and was made conformable unto Binah.
* (now US, dialectal) Race, family; breed. [from 14th c.]
** c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?
* 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. [from 14th c.]
    This is the book of the generations of Adam - Genesis 5:1
    Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations - Baruch 6:3
    All generations and ages of the Christian church - Richard Hooker
* (obsolete) Descendants, progeny; offspring. [15th–19th 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 17th c.]
** 2008, Edgar Thorpe, Objective English:Before the independence of India the books of Dr P. K. Yadav presented a fundamental challenge to the accepted ideas of race relations that, two generations later, will be true of the writings of the radical writers of the 1970s.
* A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology. [from 20th c.]
** 2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital, Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers:The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.
* (geometry) The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.
    the generation of a line or curve
* A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.
    Generation X grew up in the eighties, whereas the generation known as the millennials grew up in the nineties.
* A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.
    People sometimes dispute which generation of Star Trek is best, including the original and The Next Generation.
* (television) A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy.
** 2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book:With one-inch C format or half-inch Betacam used in the component mode, quality loss through additional generations is not such a problem. In this situation, it would be usual to make the necessary alterations while re-recording onto a third generation master […]
** 2002, Keith Jack, Vladimir Tsatsoulin, Dictionary of Video and Television Technology, page 131:Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality.
* (cellular automata) A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.
** 1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet):It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.
** 1999 June 15, hexatron, “A new hexagonal CA with a new glider”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet):The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations)
** 2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet):In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):

#### Hyponyms

* alternate generation
* Beat Generation
* Facebook generation
* Generation Jones
* Generation X
* Generation Y
* Generation Z
* Greatest Generation
* lost generation
* me generation
* microgeneration
* MSN generation
* MTV generation
* next generation
* Nintendo generation
* sandwich generation
* Silent Generation
* Spock generation
* spontaneous generation
* Stolen Generation

#### Derived terms

* aerogeneration
* autogeneration
* beat generation
* biogeneration
* cogeneration
* congeneration
* cybergeneration
* electrogeneration
* first-generation
* generational
* generation effect
* generationer
* generation gap
* generationism
* generation loss
* generationology
* generation ship
* generation time
* generationwide
* greatest generation
* hydrogeneration
* intergeneration
* intrageneration
* multigeneration
* neogeneration
* new-generation
* next-generation
* next generation networking
* organs of generation
* overgeneration
* Peter Pan generation
* photogeneration
* pregeneration
* regeneration
* second-generation
* second-harmonic generation
* snowflake generation
* strawberry generation
* subgeneration
* trigeneration
* undergeneration
* Windrush generation
* World War II generation
* X generation

#### Related terms

* generate

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

* “generation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “generation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* "generation" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 140.

### Anagrams

* neotragine, renegation

## Danish
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From English, French, Latin, or other?”)

### Noun

generation c (singular definite generationen, plural indefinite generationer)
* generation (organisms or devices born or designed at the same time)

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “generation” in Den Danske Ordbog
* “generation” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

## Middle French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin generatio.

### Noun

generation f (plural generations)
* generation (procreation; begetting)
* generation (rank or degree in genealogy)

## Swedish
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From English, French, Latin, or other?”)

### Noun

generation c
* a generation
    den yngre generationenthe younger generation

#### Declension

| | | nominative | genitive |
| singular | indefinite | generation | generations |
| singular | definite | generationen | generationens |
| plural | indefinite | generationer | generationers |
| plural | definite | generationerna | generationernas |

#### Derived terms

* generationsväxling
* ungdomsgeneration

#### Related terms

* generera

### See also

* släktled

### References

* generation in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* generation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* generation in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)