generate
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/ (UK); /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/, /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɚ.eɪt/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Latin generātus, the past participle of generāre (“to beget, produce”),[2][3][4] from genus (“race, kind, birth”) (genitive generis),[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gene- (“to give birth, beget”);[2] Etymonline allows a back-formation from generation.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
To beget offspring: 1509 in the OED and MWU, about 1500 in Etymonline; this sense is obsolete.[5][4][2]
Semantic evolution
Of natural agencies, to bring into existence or produce, it is from 1563, the 1560s in Etymonline.[5][2] To produce steam, heat, electricity or force is from 1791.[5] In mathematics, a line is generated by a moving point, and in linguistics a grammar generates sentences.[6][7] Generator, a begetter in the 17th century, came to mean an apparatus for producing power in the 18th.[3]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Verb
- To produce or create: generate income.
- To produce energy, especially electricity.
- (mathematics) To trace out a line or figure by moving a point or line.
Word family
- generator
- pregenerate
- regenerate
- self-generating
Related words
- generable
- general
- generation
- generative
- generic
- genus
- gender
- generous
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins