word-forming element meaning "marriage" in anthropology and "fertilization" in biology, from Greek -gamia, from gamos "marriage" (see gamete).

word-forming element meaning "marrying," from Greek gamos "marriage, a wedding" (see gamete) + -ous.

also gastero-, before vowels gastr-, scientific word-forming element meaning "stomach," from Greek gastro-, combining form of gastēr (genitive gastros) "belly, paunch; womb" (see gastric). Also used in compounds in ancient Greek, as gastrobarys "heavy with child."

suffix attached to any word to indicate "scandal involving," 1973, abstracted from Watergate, the Washington, D.C., building complex that was home of the National Headquarters of the Democratic Party when it was burglarized June 17, 1972, by operatives later found to be working for the staff and re-election campaign of U.S. President Richard Nixon.

word-forming element technically meaning "something produced," but mainly, in modern use, "thing that produces or causes," from French -gène (18c.), from Greek -genes "born of, produced by," which is from the same source as genos "birth," genea "race, family," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups. First used in late 18th century French chemistry (see oxygen), it probably involves a misunderstanding of -genes, as though it meant "that which produces."

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).

word-forming element meaning "genesis, origin, mode of production," forming corresponding abstract nouns to words in -gen, from French -génie and Modern Latin -genia, from Greek -geneia, from -genes "born, produced," the form in compounds of genos, from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.

word-forming element meaning "producing, pertaining to generation;" see -gen + -ic.

word-forming element meaning "generating, producing, yielding;" see -gen + -ous. In modern formations, making adjectives corresponding to words in -gen. In some older words, from Late Latin -genus, from Latin -gena "born" (for example indigenous).

word-forming element meaning "earth, the Earth," ultimately from Greek geo-, combining form of Attic and Ionic gē "the earth, land, a land or country" (see Gaia).