Standard Lemma guide

gene

name · noun · 7 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈd͡ʒiːn/
  • jēn
  • /d͡ʒiːn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːn
  • homophone: Gene
  • homophone: Jean
  • CMU ARPABET: JH IY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A unisex given name.

A diminutive of the male given name Eugene, also used as a formal male given name.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A unisex given name.

A female given name, used as a formal female given name.

A diminutive of the female given name Genevieve

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A unisex given name.

A female given name, used as a formal female given name.

A diminutive of the female given name Eugenia

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

name

Meaning 4

A surname

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms which may take several values and (in principle) predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, genetics, medicine, natural-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • Near-synonym: cistron (often synonymous)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cistron

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

A segment of DNA or RNA from a cell's or an organism's genome, that may take several forms and thus parameterizes a phenomenon, such as (often) the structure of a protein.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: molecular biology

Examples

  • Holonym: locus
  • A change in a gene is reflected in the protein or RNA molecule that it codes for.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

(genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • genes were formerly called factors

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cistron, factor

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sequence

Narrower terms: dominant gene, allele, allelomorph, genetic marker, homeotic gene, lethal gene, linkage group, linked genes, modifier, modifier gene, mutant gene, nonallele, operator gene, oncogene, transforming gene, polygene, proto-oncogene, recessive gene, regulatory gene, regulator gene, repressor gene, structural gene, suppressor, suppresser, suppressor gene, suppresser gene, transgene, X-linked gene, Y-linked gene, holandric gene

History

Etymology

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to come into being”). Coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen in 1909, in a German-language publication, from the last syllable of pangene.

Across languages

Translations

93 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: geen — unit of heredity
  • Albanian: gjen — unit of heredity
  • Arabic: مُوَرِّثَة (muwarriṯa) — unit of heredity
  • Arabic: جِين (jīn) — unit of heredity
  • Armenian: գեն (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Azerbaijani: gen — unit of heredity
  • Belarusian: ген (hjen) — unit of heredity
  • Bengali: জিন (jin) — unit of heredity
  • Bengali: বংশাণু (boṅśanu) — unit of heredity
  • Bulgarian: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Catalan: gen — unit of heredity
  • Cherokee: ᏧᏚᎪᏛᏅ ᏂᏣᎵᏍᏙᏗ (tsudugodvnv nitsalisdodi) — unit of heredity
  • Chinese: 基因 (ki-in) — unit of heredity
  • Chinese: 遺傳子 /遗传子 (ûi-thoân-chú) — unit of heredity
  • Chinese Mandarin: 基因 (jīyīn) — unit of heredity
  • Czech: gen — unit of heredity
  • Czech: vloha — unit of heredity
  • Danish: gen — unit of heredity
  • Dutch: gen — unit of heredity
  • Esperanto: geno — unit of heredity
  • Estonian: geen — unit of heredity
  • Faroese: ílega — unit of heredity
  • Faroese: arvaeind — unit of heredity
  • Finnish: geeni — unit of heredity
  • Finnish: perintötekijä — unit of heredity
  • Franco-Provençal: jéno — unit of heredity
  • French: gène — unit of heredity
  • Galician: xene — unit of heredity
  • Georgian: გენი (geni) — unit of heredity
  • German: Gen — unit of heredity
  • Greek: γονίδιο (gonídio) — unit of heredity
  • Gujarati: જનીન (janīn) — unit of heredity
  • Hebrew: גֶּן (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Hindi: जीन (jīn) — unit of heredity
  • Hindi: वंशाणु (vañśāṇu) — unit of heredity
  • Hindi: पित्रैक (pitraik) — unit of heredity
  • Hungarian: gén — unit of heredity
  • Icelandic: gen — unit of heredity
  • Ido: geno — unit of heredity
  • Indonesian: gen — unit of heredity
  • Irish: géin — unit of heredity
  • Italian: gene — unit of heredity
  • Japanese: 遺伝子 (idenshi) — unit of heredity
  • Kannada: ವಂಶವಾಹಿ (vaṃśavāhi) — unit of heredity
  • Kazakh: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Khmer: កត្តាបន្តពូជ (kattaa bɑntɑɑ puu cɔɔ) — unit of heredity
  • Khmer: ហ្សែន (zaen) — unit of heredity
  • Khmer: សែន (saen) — unit of heredity
  • Korean: 유전자 (yujeonja) — unit of heredity
  • Kyrgyz: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Lao: ກະລະລະ (ka la la) — unit of heredity
  • Latin: genum — unit of heredity
  • Latvian: gēns — unit of heredity
  • Lingala: kobóta — unit of heredity
  • Lithuanian: genas — unit of heredity
  • Macedonian: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Malay: gen — unit of heredity
  • Malayalam: ജീൻ (jīṉ) — unit of heredity
  • Mongolian: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Mongolian: ᠭᠧᠨ (gēn) — unit of heredity
  • Nepali: वंशाणु (vaṅśāṇu) — unit of heredity
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gen — unit of heredity
  • Persian: ژن (žen) — unit of heredity
  • Polish: gen — unit of heredity
  • Portuguese: gene — unit of heredity
  • Romanian: genă — unit of heredity
  • Russian: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Scottish Gaelic: gine — unit of heredity
  • Serbo-Croatian: ген — unit of heredity
  • Serbo-Croatian: gen — unit of heredity
  • Sinhalese: ජාන (jāna) — unit of heredity
  • Slovak: gén — unit of heredity
  • Slovene: gen — unit of heredity
  • Spanish: gen — unit of heredity
  • Spanish: gene — unit of heredity
  • Swedish: gen — unit of heredity
  • Tagalog: hene — unit of heredity
  • Tajik: ген (gen) — unit of heredity
  • Tamil: மரபணு (marapaṇu) — unit of heredity
  • Tamil: பரம்பரை அலகு (paramparai alaku) — unit of heredity
  • Telugu: జన్యువు (janyuvu) — unit of heredity
  • Thai: หน่วยพันธุกรรม (nùay pan-tú-gam) — unit of heredity
  • Turkish: gen — unit of heredity
  • Turkmen: gen — unit of heredity
  • Ukrainian: ген (hen) — unit of heredity
  • Ukrainian: спадко́вень (spadkóvenʹ) — unit of heredity
  • Urdu: جین (jīn) — unit of heredity
  • Urdu: وراثہ (warāsā) — unit of heredity
  • Uzbek: gen — unit of heredity
  • Vietnamese: gen — unit of heredity
  • Vietnamese: di tố — unit of heredity
  • Volapük: gered — unit of heredity
  • Yiddish: גען (gen) — unit of heredity