genetics

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The branch of biology that studies how characteristics are passed from parents to children.

   She is studying genetics at university and hopes to work in medicine.

2. 2
   noun

   The particular set of genes that an individual or species has.

   His height comes down to his genetics rather than his diet.

From Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “origin”). Coined by English biologist William Bateson in 1905 in a letter to zoologist Adam Sedgwick, and first used publicly by Bateson at a lecture to the International Conference on Plant Hybridization in 1906.

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