gene

B1 Topic:The Human Body

US /d͡ʒiːn/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like gin /ɪ/ vs /iː/

Freq #3538

Meanings

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.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a part of a cell that... factor

Word family

Forms genes

Derived forms algenyantigenearistogeneatrogenecenecisgenecytogeneeigengeneelectrochemogeneelectrogeneendogenegene-altered

Related forms alleledominant locus recessive

Appears in

Phrases (4)

See all

autosomal gene
a gene located on a chromosome other than a sex chromosome

Adjective + noun
dominant gene
a gene variant whose effect can appear when only one copy is present

Adjective + noun
mutant gene
a gene altered from its usual form in a way that affects a trait

Adjective + noun
recessive gene
a gene variant whose effect is usually masked when a dominant variant is present

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Gene was borrowed in the early 20th century from German Gen. The German term was formed from Pangen, a name for a supposed ultimate unit of heredity, built from Greek pan- “all” and genos “race, kind, offspring.”

Etymology

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.

*ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European Gen German γενεά Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

The Human Body Biology & Genetics

External links

# gene

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /d͡ʒiːn/
**Frequency rank:** 3538

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

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

## Derived Forms
- algeny
- antigene
- aristogene
- atrogene
- cene
- cisgene
- cytogene
- eigengene
- electrochemogene
- electrogene
- endogene
- gene-altered

## Related Forms
- allele
- dominant
- locus
- recessive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ǵenh₁-
- Root: Gen
- Root: γενεά

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Gene comes 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. In current use, the main sense is “A part of a cell that carries information passed from parents to children and controls traits like eye colour”.

## Topics
- The Human Body
- Biology & Genetics

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