genre
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈ(d)ʒɒnɹə/ (UK); /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from French genre (“kind, sort, style”), from Old French genre, gendre (see gender),[2][3][4] ultimately from Latin genus (“kind”).[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
A particular style or category of art or literature: 1770 in the OED, Etymonline and MWU;[6][3][4] kind, sort, 1816 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][2]
Semantic evolution
It was at first a French word in English and was naturalized from about 1840.[3] A style of painting depicting scenes of ordinary life is from 1849 as an attributive (genre-painting) and 1861 as a noun.[2][6][3] In the 20th century it came to be used of film and music, and of popular fiction of a particular kind.[7][8]
Timeline
- 1770 – a style of art.[6][3]
- 1816 – kind, sort.[6][2]
- c. 1840 – naturalized in English.[3]
- 1849 – genre painting.[2]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A category of art, music or literature with a particular form, style or subject.
- A style of painting showing scenes from everyday life.
Adjective
- Of popular fiction, following a familiar formula: genre fiction.
Word family
- subgenre
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e 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