Standard Lemma guide

eugenics

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /juːˈd͡ʒɛnɪks/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Y UW0 JH EH1 N IH0 K S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A social philosophy or practice which advocates the improvement of human hereditary qualities through selective breeding, either by encouraging people with superior genetic qualities to reproduce (positive eugenics), or discouraging people with inferior genetic qualities from reproducing (negative eugenics), or by technological means.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: biology, human-sciences, natural-sciences, sciences, social-science, sociology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the study of methods of improving genetic qualities by selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: dysgenics

Broader terms: life science, bioscience

History

Etymology

Coined by Francis Galton in 1883. From ἐΰς (eǘs, “good”) + γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “breeding”), “well-bred”, “good in stock”. Parallel to Eugene. By surface analysis, eugenic + -s.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: eugenetika — social philosophy
  • Arabic: تَحْسِين نَسْل (taḥsīn nasl) — social philosophy
  • Armenian: եվգենիկա (evgenika) — social philosophy
  • Azerbaijani: yevgenika — social philosophy
  • Bashkir: евгеника (yevgenika) — social philosophy
  • Basque: eugenesia — social philosophy
  • Bulgarian: евгеника (evgenika) — social philosophy
  • Catalan: eugenèsia — social philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 優生學 /优生学 (yōushēngxué) — social philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 善種學 /善种学 (shànzhǒngxué) — social philosophy
  • Czech: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Danish: eugenik — social philosophy
  • Dutch: eugenetica — social philosophy
  • Esperanto: eŭgeniko — social philosophy
  • Estonian: eugeenika — social philosophy
  • Finnish: rodunjalostusoppi — social philosophy
  • Finnish: eugeniikka — social philosophy
  • French: eugénisme — social philosophy
  • Galician: euxenesia — social philosophy
  • Georgian: ევგენიკა (evgeniḳa) — social philosophy
  • German: Eugenik — social philosophy
  • German: Eugenetik — social philosophy
  • German: Rassenhygiene — social philosophy
  • Greek: ευγονική (evgonikí) — social philosophy
  • Hebrew: אֵאוּגֵנִיקָה ('e'ugeniqá) — social philosophy
  • Hungarian: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Icelandic: mannkynbætur — social philosophy
  • Indonesian: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Indonesian: eugenetika — social philosophy
  • Irish: eoiginic — social philosophy
  • Italian: eugenetica — social philosophy
  • Japanese: 優生学 (yūseigaku) — social philosophy
  • Kazakh: евгеника (evgenika) — social philosophy
  • Korean: 우생학 (usaenghak) — social philosophy
  • Kyrgyz: эвгеника (evgenika) — social philosophy
  • Latin: eugenica — social philosophy
  • Latvian: eigēnika — social philosophy
  • Lithuanian: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Macedonian: еугеника (eugenika) — social philosophy
  • Malay: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Malay: eugenik — social philosophy
  • Manx: jeih-gheintyn — social philosophy
  • Norwegian: eugenikk — social philosophy
  • Polish: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Portuguese: eugenia — social philosophy
  • Romanian: eugenism — social philosophy
  • Russian: евгеника (jevgenika) — social philosophy
  • Slovak: eugenika — social philosophy
  • Slovene: evgenika — social philosophy
  • Spanish: eugenesia — social philosophy
  • Spanish: eugénica — social philosophy
  • Swedish: eugenik — social philosophy
  • Swedish: rashygien — social philosophy
  • Tagalog: butinsuplingan — social philosophy
  • Thai: สุพันธุศาสตร์ — social philosophy
  • Turkish: öjenik — social philosophy
  • Ukrainian: євгеніка (jevhenika) — social philosophy
  • Uzbek: yevgenika — social philosophy
  • Vietnamese: thuyết ưu sinh — social philosophy
  • Volapük: hügien bidädik — social philosophy
  • Welsh: ewgeneg — social philosophy