generic

US /dʒᵻˈnɛ.ɹɪk/ See IPA manual

Freq #19907

Meanings

1

adj
Shared by a whole group or class rather than specific to one thing.

"Capri pants" is a generic term for any cropped slim trousers.
2

adj
(Of a product or drug) sold without a brand name.

The pharmacist offered me a cheaper generic version of the medicine.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · shared by a whole group or... broad

More catholic classic common ecumenical general indefinite nonsingular nonspecific universal unparticular unsingular unspecific

Opposites

branded concrete genderednon-genericparticular proprietary specific

Word family

Forms generics

Derived forms bigenericbiogenericcogenericextragenericgenericagenericallygenericidegenericisegenericismgenericitygenericizationgenericize

Related forms comprehensive gender genus

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

generic term
a word or phrase that names a broad class rather than one specific member

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic; thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, general.

*ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European genus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# generic

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /dʒᵻˈnɛ.ɹɪk/
**Frequency rank:** 19907

## Meanings
1. Shared by a whole group or class rather than specific to one thing.
2. (Of a product or drug) sold without a brand name.

## Examples
- "Capri pants" is a generic term for any cropped slim trousers.
- The pharmacist offered me a cheaper generic version of the medicine.

## Synonyms
- catholic
- classic
- common
- ecumenical
- general
- indefinite
- nonsingular
- nonspecific
- universal
- unparticular
- unsingular
- unspecific

## Antonyms
- branded
- concrete
- gendered
- non-generic
- particular
- proprietary
- specific

## Derived Forms
- bigeneric
- biogeneric
- cogeneric
- extrageneric
- generica
- generically
- genericide
- genericise
- genericism
- genericity
- genericization
- genericize

## Related Forms
- comprehensive
- gender
- genus

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *ǵenh₁-
- Root: genus

## Etymology
From Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic; thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, general.

## AI Etymology
Generic comes from Middle French générique, from Latin genus (“genus, kind”) + -ic; thus morphologically parallel with, and a doublet of, general. The historical chain includes *ǵenh₁- (Proto-Indo-European) and genus (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as bigeneric, biogeneric, cogeneric, and extrageneric and related forms such as comprehensive, gender, and genus. In present use it covers shared by a whole group or class rather than specific to one thing and (Of a product or drug) sold without a brand name.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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