gene English · revision 5700

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1911|origins=de Gen}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /dʒiːn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|de|Gen]], coined in 1909 by the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen, who also proposed the English form gene;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Etymonline dates the coinage to 1905.^(Etymonline) German Gen is a shortening of Pangen,^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) Hugo de Vries's name for a supposed ultimate unit of heredity,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from Greek pan- “all” and génos “race, kind, offspring”;^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) Barnhart and Etymonline instead derive it from Greek geneá “generation, race”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from PIE [[ine-pro|*gene-|t=to give birth, beget]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A unit of heredity: 1911 in the OED, Barnhart, Etymonline and MWU.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Gene pool'' is from 1946,^(Etymonline) ''gene bank'' from 1964, and ''gene therapy'' from 1971.^(OED 1989) Johannsen also suggested gene as a combining form, and he introduced ''genotype''.^(Barnhart 1988) Genes are now understood as stretches of DNA (in some viruses RNA) at a fixed place on a chromosome.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1909 – German Gen (Johannsen).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1911 – gene.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1946 – ''gene pool''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1964 – ''gene bank''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1971 – ''gene therapy''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A unit of [[heredity]], a section of [[DNA]] at a fixed place on a [[chromosome]] that determines a particular characteristic of an organism.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[genetic]]

+ * [[geneticist]]

+ * [[genetics]]

+ * [[genic]]

+ * [[genome]]

+ * [[genomics]]

+ * [[oligogene]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[genotype]]

+ * [[genesis]]

+ * [[genus]]

+ * [[kin]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Gêne, constraint or embarrassment, borrowed from French in 1817, is a different word.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}