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genre

Etymology and origin of the French word genre

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1121–1134, Philippe de Thaon
Ultimate origin
Latin (genus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French genre
English genre

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʒɑ̃ʁ/[1]
  • IPA: /ʒɔʁ/[1]

Forms

genre m (plural genres)[1] Old French gendre (1121–1134), used until the 16th century, genre from about 1200; also gerre (Jean Marot).[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, descent; race; kind, sort”) (genitive “generis”),[2][3][6][7] which covered all the senses of the Old French word; in philosophy, after Greek, “genus” was opposed to “species” (see espèce).[2][3] The Latin word comes from “gignere” “to beget”, from the Indo-European root “*gen(e)-” of Ancient Greek γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to be born, become”) (see gène, genèse).[3] The Old French form “gendre” is probably due to the verb “gendrer” “to beget”, from Latin “generare”.[2][3]

English genre (1770) is from the modern word,[8] and the Anglo-Norman “gendre” corresponds to English gender;[9] the sense “gender (identity)” is in turn a borrowing of meaning from English.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) has gendre in the everyday sense “kind, type”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 it meant “sex” (rendering Latin sexus), a sense lost since, and about 1245 a grammatical gender (Henri d'Andeli).[2][3] Humaine genre appears in the early 13th century and le genre humain in Montaigne (1580).[2][10] About 1300 it was a philosophical term for the general idea of a group of things with common characteristics, and, from the mid-18th century (Buffon) the rank of classification above the species.[2][3][10]

The sense “sort, kind” spread about 1400 (en son genre, 1690, genre de vie, 1690).[6][3] Racan (1654) used it for a category of literary works, later of paintings (peinture de genre, 1765, Diderot) and music.[2][3][10] From 1835 it also meant a manner of behaving (bon, mauvais genre, se donner un genre, 1845), and in modern colloquial French genre is a filler, “like, sort of”.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 1121–1134 – Gendre “kind” in Philippe de Thaon.[2]
  • c. 1200 – “Sex”.[2]
  • c. 1245 – Grammatical gender.[2]
  • Early 13th century – Humaine genre.[2]
  • c. 1300 – A philosophical term.[2]
  • 1654 – A literary genre, in Racan.[2]
  • 1765 – Peinture de genre in Diderot.[10]
  • 1770 – English genre.[8]
  • 1798 – Sous-genre in Cuvier.[3]
  • 1845 – Se donner un genre.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A kind, sort, type: un genre de vie, unique en son genre.[1][3]
  2. A genre (in art, literature): le genre romanesque, peinture de genre.[1][10]
  3. Style, manner; behaviour: avoir bon genre, mauvais genre, se donner un genre.[1][3]
  4. (grammar) Gender: le genre masculin.[1][2]
  5. Gender (social, identity): études de genre.[1]
  6. (biology) A genus, le genre humain: mankind.[1][11]

Adverb

  1. (colloquial) Like, sort of: un type genre bobo, il était genre : « non ! ».[1][3]

Word family

  • sous-genre

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 116a
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Genre.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/genre. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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