-genesis

word-forming element meaning "birth, origin, creation," from Greek genesis "origin, creation, generation," from gignesthai "to be born," related to genos "race, birth, descent" (from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups).

Entries linking to -genesis

angiogenesis (n.)

"development of new blood vessels," 1896, from angio- + -genesis "birth, origin, creation."

biogenesis (n.)

also bio-genesis, 1870, "theory that living organisms arise only from the agency of pre-existing living organisms" (as opposed to spontaneous generation), coined by English biologist T.H. Huxley from Greek bios "life" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live") + -genesis "birth, origin, creation." A word from the Darwin debates. The meaning "the theoretical evolution of living matter from complex inanimate chemicals" is from 1960. Compare also biogeny. Related: Biogenic; biogenetic; biogenetical.

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polygenesis

"plurality of origins," in biology, "generation or origination from several separate and often independent germs; as a doctrine, equivalent to special creation; originally and often specifically in reference to the view that the human race consists of several distinct species, 18

Babel

capital of Babylon, now a ruin near Hillah in Iraq, late 14c., from Late Latin, from Hebrew Babhel (Genesis xi), from Akkadian...meaning "a confused medley of sounds" (1520s) is from the biblical story of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues (Genesis...

Eve

Like most of the explanations of names in Genesis, this is probably based on folk etymology or an imaginative playing with...[Robert Alter, "The Five Books of Moses," 2004, commentary on Genesis iii.20]...

Benjamin

masc. proper name, in Old Testament, Jacob's youngest son (Genesis xxxv.18), from Hebrew Binyamin, literally "son of the...south," though interpreted in Genesis as "son of the right hand," from ben "son of" + yamin "right hand," also "south" (in...In reference to a favorite younger son, it is from the story of Jacob's family in Genesis....

Jacob

from Late Latin Iacobus, from Greek Iakobos, from Hebrew Ya'aqobh, literally "one that takes by the heel; a supplanter" (Genesis...Jacob's ladder, in various transferred uses is attested by 1733, is from Genesis xxviii.12....

Nimrod

"great hunter," 1712, a reference to the biblical son of Cush, referred to (Genesis x.8-9) as "a mighty hunter before the...In Middle English he was Nembrot (mid-13c.), founder of cities and builder of the tower of Babel (though Genesis does not...

Noah

Phrase Noah's ark in reference to the ark in which, according to Genesis, Noah saved his family and many animals, is attested...

camouflage

1917, noun, verb, and adjective, from French camoufler, in Parisian slang, "to disguise," from Italian camuffare "to disguise," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps a contraction of capo muffare "to muffle the head." The word was probably altered in French by influence of French

manna

Old English borrowing from Late Latin manna, from Greek manna, from Hebrew mān, probably literally "substance exuded by the tamarisk tree," but used in Greek and Latin specifically with reference to the substance miraculously supplied to the Children of Israel during their wander

Anglo-Saxon

Old English Angli Saxones (plural), from Latin Anglo-Saxones, in which Anglo- is an adjective, thus literally "English Saxons," as opposed to those of the Continent (now called Old Saxons). Properly in reference to the Saxons of ancient Wessex, Essex, Middlesex, and Sussex. I am

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updated on December 13, 2020

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