# gen
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /d͡ʒɛn/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Homophones: Jen, Gen
* Rhymes: -ɛn

### Etymology 1

Clipping of general.

#### Noun

gen (uncountable)
* (chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Information.
** 2015, Nicholas Whittaker, Platform Souls: The Trainspotter as 20th-Century Hero:Nose around any modest-sized station and the odds are you'll find that the chargeman's office doubles as a bashers' club, a place where shivering spotters can get warm and catch up on the gen.
* (birdwatching) Information about the location of a bird.
** 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 172:I had some recent gen that they had been seen quite recently at Kunoth Well, a little dot on the map on the edge of the Tanami Desert.
* (fandom slang) Fan fiction that does not specifically focus on romance or sex.

##### Synonyms

* (fan fiction): genfic

#### See also

* genned in
* gen up

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

gen (plural gens)
* Alternative letter-case form of Gen (“member of the Gen Movement”)

### Etymology 3

Shortened from generate and generator.

#### Verb

gen (third-person singular simple present gens, present participle genning, simple past and past participle genned)
* To generate using an automated process, especially a computer program.
** 1991, Bruce H. Hunter, Karen Bradford Hunter, UNIX Systems: Advanced Administration and Management Handbook:Defining the devices so that they will be genned during the sysgen and installation is the other half.
** 1993, Debra R. Niedermiller-Chaffins, Drew Heywood, Inside Novell NetWare, →ISBN, page 100:The older, genned files are difficult to keep up-to-date and are unsupported for some newer NICs.
** 2010, Donald K. Burleson, Oracle Tuning: The Definitive Reference, →ISBN, page 1109:As the capacities of the large servers are exceeded, a new server is genned into the RAC cluster.
** 2012, Robert Charles Wilson, Bios, →ISBN:The Turing factories on Isis's small moon had fallen short of productivity goals, though another two factory units had been genned.

#### Noun

gen (plural gens)
* (slang) A generator (device that converts mechanical to electrical energy).
    Synonym: genny

### Etymology 4

Shortened from genetic engineering

#### Verb

gen (third-person singular simple present gens, present participle genning, simple past and past participle genned)
* (science fiction) To genetically engineer.
** 2008, Bart Dahmer, Primal Screams, →ISBN, page 36:Samples could be taken from the original, and plans could be made, but genning could not be initiated until death had occurred.
** 2011, Karen Sandler, Tankborn, →ISBN, page 28:Her nurturer ears, genned to be hyper-sensitive, had to be hurting from the noise.

### Etymology 5

Etymology unknown. Possibilities include:
* Clipping of argent
* Clipping of generalise, from back slang for English shilling.

#### Noun

gen (plural gens)
* (obsolete, UK, slang) A shilling.
** 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Gambling of Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor‎, volume 1, page 17:The betting also began to shift. "Sixpence Ned wins!" cried three or four; "Sixpence he loses!" answered another; "Done!" and up went the halfpence. "Half-a-crown Joe loses!"—"Here you are," answered Joe, but he lost again. "I'll try you a 'gen'" (shilling) said a coster; "And a 'rouf yenap'" (fourpence), added the other. "Say a 'exes'" (sixpence).—"Done!" and the betting continued, till the ground was spotted with silver and halfpence.
** 1978, Rose Ayers, The Street Sparrows:"Give me two gen, then, and take the whole bloody tol. I've walked me teef orf afore rouf this mornin', and wot 'ave I got? Two bloody yenneps! I ask yer."

### Etymology 6

Clipping of generation.

#### Noun

gen (plural gens)
* (informal) A generation (group of people born in a specific range of years).
** 2022 June 28, “Wimbledon tennis: Fans react to Kristina Mladenovic's eye-catching outfit”, in The New Zealand Herald‎:"Mladenovic playing in what the young gen is calling a crop top, but what my gen is calling a bra," Bouchard tweeted. "Sign of the times that Wimbledon has no issue with that. Still can remember the year some had troubles because of 'too short' skirts lol."
** 2022 July 4, Ben Schott, “Is There Anything That Gen Z Won’t Drink?”, in The Washington Post‎:It’s anyone’s guess whether such attitudes will persist into adulthood, but if Gen Z (and the gens to come) do prove more alco-skeptic than their forbears then the above twelve steps are deftly primed to cash in.
* (informal, in combination) A specific version of something in a chronological sequence.
** 2004, Sally Bishai, “Courtship, Marriage and the Ubiquitous ‘Dating Thing’”, in Mid-East Meets West: On Being and Becoming a Modern Arab American, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 57:For my fellow first-gens, get ready to hide a smirk, because your life story is likely hidden somewhere in this chapter. For the uninitiated—that is, the person who's never had a thing to do with the Arab way of doing things (namely dating)—I advise you to buckle up.
** 2016, Dwight Lang, “Witnessing Social Class in the Academy”, in Allison L. Hurst, Sandi Kawecka Nenga, editors, Working in Class: Recognizing How Social Class Shapes Our Academic Work, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, part 2 (Teaching), page 102:[…] I witness firsthand the difficult "downstream" outcomes (Grusky 2014) of social class stratification in a university setting where approximately 3,400 undergraduates (13% of the undergraduate population) are first in their families to attend and/or graduate from college (first-gens). Most of these students are low income and nearly 1,200 first-gens have grown up in poverty.
** 2017, Temple Fennell, “SCIE: Sustainable Cycle of Investing Engagement”, in Kirby Rosplock, The Complete Direct Investing Handbook: A Guide for Family Offices, Qualified Purchasers, and Accredited Investors (Bloomberg Financial Series), Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 242:The Family Values and Framing Strategy steps address soft issues as what is the purpose of the new investment strategy, is there a desire to engage and train the next generation (Next Gens), and is there building buy-in and engagement across the family members important to strengthen family unity.

##### Derived terms

* gen AI
* Gen Alpha
* Gen X
* Gen Z
* iGen
* next-gen
* proc-gen

### Anagrams

* Neg, ENG, neg, Eng., eng, neg., eng., NGE, /neg, NEG

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Gen.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈʒɛn]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈd͡ʒen]

### Noun

gen m (plural gens)
* gene

#### Related terms

* genètic
* genètica
* genetista
* gènic
* genoma
* genotip

### Further reading

* “gen” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
* “gen” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “gen”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “gen” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Czech
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Gen.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɡɛn]
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: gen
* Rhymes: -ɛn

### Noun

gen m inan
* gene

#### Related terms

* genetický
* genetika
* genový

### Further reading

* “gen”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
* “gen”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

## Danish
### Etymology 1

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). Coined by the Danish biologist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen in a German-language publication.

#### Noun

gen n (singular definite genet, plural indefinite gener)
* (genetics) gene

##### Declension
### Etymology 2
#### Verb

gen
* imperative of genne

### References

* “gen” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Etymology

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). Coined by the Danish biologist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen in a German-language publication.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɣɛn/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

gen n (plural genen)
* gene

#### Descendants

* → Indonesian: gen

### Anagrams

* eng

## German
### Etymology

From Middle High German gēn, gein, from gegen with elision of intervocalic -g- (compare Getreide, Maid). Doublet of gegen (“against”). Cognate with Yiddish קיין (keyn).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡeːn/, /ɡɛn/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: gehn, Gen (according to the first pronunciation)

### Preposition

gen [with accusative]
* (literary, somewhat dated) in the direction; to; towards (a place or time)
    gen Norden ― to the north, northwards
    gen Abend ― towards the evening, in the late afternoon

#### Synonyms

* (in) Richtung (place); gegen (time)

### Further reading

* “gen” in Duden online
* “gen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Haitian Creole
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɛ̃/

### Verb

gen
* Contraction of genyen.

## Icelandic
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Gen.

### Noun

gen n (genitive singular gens, nominative plural gen)
* gene

#### Declension
## Indonesian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch gen.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /ˈɡen/ [ˈɡen]
* Rhymes: -en
* Syllabification: gen

### Noun

gen (plural gen-gen)
* (genetics) gene (a theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms)

#### Derived terms

* gen pul (“gene pool”)

### Further reading

* “gen” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Japanese
### Romanization

gen
* Rōmaji transcription of げん
* Rōmaji transcription of ゲン

## Malay
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch gen (“gene”), from German Gen (which was coined by Danish biologist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen in a German-language publication), from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡen/
* Rhymes: -en

### Noun

gen (plural gen-gen, informal 1st possessive genku, 2nd possessive genmu, 3rd possessive gennya)
* gene
** (genetics) a theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms; a gene may take several values and in principle predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair colour.
** (molecular biology) locus: a segment of DNA or RNA from a cell's or an organism's genome, that may take several forms and thus parameterizes a phenomenon, in general the structure of a protein.

#### Derived terms

* aliran gen
* bank gen
* frekuensi gen
* gen resesif
* keekspresian gen
* penggantian gen
* takung gen
* tindakan gen

### Further reading

* “gen” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

## Mandarin
### Romanization

gen
* Nonstandard spelling of gēn.
* Nonstandard spelling of gén.
* Nonstandard spelling of gěn.
* Nonstandard spelling of gèn.

#### Usage notes

* Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

## Middle English
### Preposition

gen
* Alternative form of gain (“against”)

## Mwotlap
### Etymology

From Proto-Torres-Banks *ɣani, from Proto-Oceanic *kani, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaən, from Proto-Austronesian *kaən. Cognate with Vurës gen.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɣɛn/

### Verb

gen
* to eat (meat, vegetables)
* to suffer (s.th. unpleasant)
* to acquire (an honorific rank)
* (transitive) (fire) to burn s.th.
* (intransitive) (fire) to burn

#### Derived terms

* gengen

### References

François, Alexandre. 2025. Online Mwotlap–English–French cultural dictionary. Electronic files. Paris: CNRS. (Pdf version) – entry gen.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Noun

gen n (definite singular genet, indefinite plural gener, definite plural gena or genene)
* (biology) a gene

#### Usage notes

* Prior to a revision in 2020, this noun was also considered grammatically masculine. The form genen was then made obsolete.

### References

* “gen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* ↑ Language Council of Norway, Spelling decisions since 2012 (in Norwegian, retrieved 12.21.20)

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Noun

gen n (definite singular genet, indefinite plural gen, definite plural gena)
* (biology) a gene

#### Usage notes

* Prior to a revision in 2020, this noun was also considered grammatically masculine. The forms genen, genar, and genane were then made obsolete.

### References

* “gen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
* ↑ Language Council of Norway, Spelling decisions since 2012 (in Norwegian, retrieved 12.21.20)

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ju.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /jeːn/

### Adverb

ġēn
* still, yet
* again, further

## Old High German
### Etymology

The form gēn appears early on in Bavarian, later spreading to eastern and southern Franconian and to the newly developing East Central German. Its origins are unknown. One theory invokes the original paradigm of Proto-West Germanic *gān, which had *ai in the 2nd and 3rd persons singular of the present; compare Middle Low German gân > he geit, modern Colognian jonn > hä jeiht, etc. The Old High German ē might thus be explained as a compromise vowel between ā and ei. What lends credence to this theory is the fact that Old High German ē cannot have developed regularly in the given position, as it only occurs before h, r, w, and word-finally.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡeːn/, (early) [ɡɛːn]

### Verb

gēn
* Alternative form of gān (“to go”)

#### Descendants

* Middle High German: gēn
** German: gehen, gehn

### See also

* stēn

## Old Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡʲen/

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *gʷenom.

#### Noun

gen n or f
* smile, laugh
* sport, levity

##### Inflection

The Dictionary of the Irish Language believes that this was a u-stem, while Matasović disputes this classification since *giun would be expected from such a stem due to raising and u-infection; he declares it an o-stem. All forms except the nominative are unattested.
* $^H$ = triggers aspiration
* $^L$ = triggers lenition
* $^N$ = triggers nasalization

##### Derived terms

* gentraige

### Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

gen f
* sword

##### Inflection

* $^H$ = triggers aspiration
* $^L$ = triggers lenition
* $^N$ = triggers nasalization

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* ↑ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 146

## Old Occitan
### Adjective

gen m (feminine singular genta, masculine plural gens, feminine plural gentas)
* attractive; pleasing; nice; fair; pleasant
** 12th century, Bernard de Ventadour
    Lo gens tems de pascorThe pleasant time of Easter

### References

* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “genitus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 4: G H I, page 103

## Polish
### Etymology

Internationalism; compare English gene, French gène, German Gen, ultimately from Ancient Greek γενεᾱ́ (geneā́).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡɛn/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛn
* Syllabification: gen
* Homophone: -gen

### Noun

gen m inan (related adjective genowy)
* (genetics) gene (theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms; it may take several values and, in principle, predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color)
* (literary) gene (trait inherited from ancestors)

#### Related terms

* genowo
* bank genów

### Further reading

* gen in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* gen in Polish dictionaries at PWN
* gen in PWN's encyclopedia

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin genus. The particle sense is likely to be a calque of English like.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /d͡ʒen/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -en

### Noun

gen n (plural genuri)
* type, sort, kind
    Synonyms: fel, soi, tip
    ceva de genul (informal) ― something of the sort
* (dated) way of being, manner, attitude
* genre
* (grammar) gender
* (sociology) gender
* (taxonomy) genus

#### Declension
### Particle

gen (colloquial)
* Filler word: like.
* Precedes a quotation or description: like.

#### Derived terms

* fi gen

### References

* gen in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Gen.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈxen/ [ˈxẽn]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -en
* Syllabification: gen

### Noun

gen m (plural genes)
* gene

#### Derived terms

* génico

### Further reading

* “gen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /jeːn/
* Audio:(file)

#### Adjective

gen (comparative genare, superlative genast)
* gain; short, direct

##### Related terms

* gena
* genväg
* framgent

### Etymology 2

From German Gen.

#### Noun

gen c
* gene

##### Related terms

* genetik
* genetisk
* genom

### References

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

### Anagrams

* eng.

## Tok Pisin
### Etymology

From English again.

### Adverb

gen
* again
** 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 2:21:Orait God, Bikpela i mekim man i slip i dai tru. Na taim man i slip yet, God i kisim wanpela bun long banis bilong man na i pasim gen skin bilong dispela hap.→New International Version translation

## Turkish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɟæn/

### Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish كیك (geñ), from Proto-Turkic *kēŋ (“wide, broad”).
Cognate with Yakut киэҥ (kieñ, “wide”), Bashkir киң (kiñ), Kazakh кең (keñ), etc.

#### Adjective

gen
* (obsolete, dialectal) wide
    Synonym: geniş
    Antonym: dar

##### Derived terms

* genel
* genleşmek

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

gen (definite accusative geni, plural genler)
* (colloquial) A field that wasn't plowed for several years.

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from French gene.

#### Noun

gen (definite accusative geni, plural genler)
* (biology) gene

##### Declension

singular
plural
nominative
gen
genler
definite accusative
geni
genleri
dative
gene
genlere
locative
gende
genlerde
ablative
genden
genlerden
genitive
genin
genlerin
Possessive forms
nominative
singular
plural
1st singular
genim
genlerim
2nd singular
genin
genlerin
3rd singular
geni
genleri
1st plural
genimiz
genlerimiz
2nd plural
geniniz
genleriniz
3rd plural
genleri
genleri
definite accusative
singular
plural
1st singular
genimi
genlerimi
2nd singular
genini
genlerini
3rd singular
genini
genlerini
1st plural
genimizi
genlerimizi
2nd plural
geninizi
genlerinizi
3rd plural
genlerini
genlerini
dative
singular
plural
1st singular
genime
genlerime
2nd singular
genine
genlerine
3rd singular
genine
genlerine
1st plural
genimize
genlerimize
2nd plural
geninize
genlerinize
3rd plural
genlerine
genlerine
locative
singular
plural
1st singular
genimde
genlerimde
2nd singular
geninde
genlerinde
3rd singular
geninde
genlerinde
1st plural
genimizde
genlerimizde
2nd plural
geninizde
genlerinizde
3rd plural
genlerinde
genlerinde
ablative
singular
plural
1st singular
genimden
genlerimden
2nd singular
geninden
genlerinden
3rd singular
geninden
genlerinden
1st plural
genimizden
genlerimizden
2nd plural
geninizden
genlerinizden
3rd plural
genlerinden
genlerinden
genitive
singular
plural
1st singular
genimin
genlerimin
2nd singular
geninin
genlerinin
3rd singular
geninin
genlerinin
1st plural
genimizin
genlerimizin
2nd plural
geninizin
genlerinizin
3rd plural
genlerinin
genlerinin :

## Vietnamese
### Alternative forms

* gien

### Pronunciation

* (Hà Nội) IPA: [zɛn˧˧], [ɣɛn˧˧]
* (Huế) IPA: [jɛŋ˧˧], [ɣɛŋ˧˧]
* (Saigon) IPA: [jɛŋ˧˧], [ɣɛŋ˧˧]
* Phonetic spelling: gien, ghen

### Noun

gen
* gene

#### Usage notes

* This is one of the rare cases in which a word's pronunciation differs from its spelling.

#### Derived terms

* biểu hiện gen

## Vurës
### Etymology

From Proto-Torres-Banks *ɣani, from Proto-Oceanic *kani, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaən, from Proto-Austronesian *kaən. Cognate with Maori kai, Malay makan.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɣɛn/

### Verb

gen
* to eat (foods other than meat)

#### Derived terms

* gengen

### References

* ↑ Catriona Malau (September 2021) “gen”, in A Dictionary of Vurës, Vanuatu (Asia-Pacific Linguistics), Australian National University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 75

## Welsh
### Alternative forms

* gennyf, gin

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɛn/

### Pronoun

gen
* (colloquial) first/second-person singular of gan

## Zhuang
### Etymology

From Proto-Tai *qeːnᴬ (“arm”). Cognate with Thai แขน (kɛ̌ɛn), Northern Thai ᨡᩯ᩠ᨶ, Lao ແຂນ (khǣn), Lü ᦶᦃᧃ (ẋaen), Tai Dam ꪵꪄꪙ, Shan ၶႅၼ် (khěn).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Zhuang) IPA: /keːn˨˦/
* Tone numbers: gen$^1$
* Hyphenation: gen

### Noun

gen (1957–1982 spelling gen)
* (anatomy) arm

## Zou
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡen˧/

### Verb

gen
* (transitive) to say

### References

* Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 41