genome

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Genom, coined in 1920 by the German botanist Hans Winkler,^[2][3] a blend of Gen (“gene”) and Chromosom (“chromosome”).^[2][4][5][6] The OED and American Heritage analyse the English word as gene plus -ome, on the German model,^[3][7] and the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Concise Oxford call it a blend of gene and chromosome.^[8][9] The German word for the gene had been coined in 1905 by the Danish scientist Wilhelm Johannsen, from a Greek word for generation or race.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A complete haploid set of chromosomes: 1926, in the Quarterly Review of Biology.^[3][4] The OED 1989, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and Etymonline dated it to 1930,^[10][11][2] at first in the spelling genom.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant one haploid set of chromosomes, of an organism, species or gamete, and later also the whole set of genes of an organism, species, organelle or virus.^[3][12] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives the broader sense, the genetic material of an organism, beside the narrower one,^[11] and Wiktionary defines it as all the genetic information of an organism, in DNA or, in some viruses, RNA.^[1]

Timeline

• 1920 – German Genom, in Winkler.^[3][2]
• 1926 – first English record, a haploid set of chromosomes.^[3][4]
• 1930 – the date given by the OED 1989 and Etymonline.^[10][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The complete set of genes or genetic material of an organism, cell, organelle or virus: Scientists have sequenced the genome of the barley plant.
2. One haploid set of chromosomes with the genes they carry.

Word family

• genomic
• genomics
• Human Genome Project

Related words

• gene
• chromosome
• proteome
• genetic

Usage notes

The spelling genom is also recorded, now less common or dated.^[4][5][6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press