gene

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A part of a cell that carries information passed from parents to children and controls traits like eye colour.

   Scientists discovered a gene linked to a higher risk of the disease.

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to come into being”). Coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen in 1909, in a German-language publication, from the last syllable of pangene.

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