Standard Lemma guide

genetics

noun · 3 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.

  • UK, US: /dʒəˈnɛt.ɪks/
  • UK, US: /dʒɪ-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • South-Asia: /ˈdʒɛ.nə.ʈɪks/
  • South-Asia: /ˈdʒɛn.ʈɪks/
  • CMU ARPABET: JH AH0 N EH1 T IH0 K S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The branch of biology that deals with the transmission and variation of inherited characteristics, in particular chromosomes and DNA.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The genetic makeup of a specific individual or species.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: genes

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: genetic science

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: biology, biological science

Narrower terms: cytogenetics, genomics, proteomics, molecular genetics, pharmacogenetics

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis, “origin”). Coined by English biologist William Bateson in 1905 in a letter to zoologist Adam Sedgwick, and first used publicly by Bateson at a lecture to the International Conference on Plant Hybridization in 1906.

Across languages

Translations

129 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: genetika — branch of biology
  • Albanian: gjenetikë — branch of biology
  • Albanian: gjenetika — branch of biology
  • Arabic: عِلْمُ وِرَاثَة (ʕilmu wirāṯa) — branch of biology
  • Arabic: وِرَاثِيَّات (wirāṯiyyāt) — branch of biology
  • Aragonese: chenetica — branch of biology
  • Armenian: գենետիկա (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Asturian: xenética — branch of biology
  • Azerbaijani: genetika — branch of biology
  • Bashkir: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Basque: genetika — branch of biology
  • Belarusian: гене́тыка (hjenjétyka) — branch of biology
  • Belarusian: генэ́тыка (hjenétyka) — branch of biology
  • Bengali: বংশাণুবিজ্ঞান (boṅśanubiggên) — branch of biology
  • Breton: genetik — branch of biology
  • Bulgarian: гене́тика (genétika) — branch of biology
  • Burmese: မျိုးရိုးပညာ (myui:rui:pa.nya) — branch of biology
  • Burmese: မျိုးရိုးဗီဇပညာ (myui:rui:bija.pa.nya) — branch of biology
  • Catalan: genètica — branch of biology
  • Chechen: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Cherokee: ᎤᎾᏓᏰᎶᏒ ᎠᎦᏎᏍᏔᏅ (unadayelosv agasestanv) — branch of biology
  • Chinese Cantonese: 遺傳學 /遗传学 (wai4 cyun4 hok6) — branch of biology
  • Chinese: 遺傳學 /遗传学 (î-toân-ha̍k, ûi-thoân-ha̍k, ûi-toân-ha̍k) — branch of biology
  • Chinese Mandarin: 遺傳學 /遗传学 (yíchuánxué) — branch of biology
  • Chuvash: генетика (genet̬ik̬a) — branch of biology
  • Czech: genetika — branch of biology
  • Danish: genetik — branch of biology
  • Dutch: genetica — branch of biology
  • Dutch: erfelijkheidsleer — branch of biology
  • Esperanto: genetiko — branch of biology
  • Estonian: geneetika — branch of biology
  • Extremaduran: genética — branch of biology
  • Faroese: arvagreining — branch of biology
  • Finnish: perinnöllisyystiede — branch of biology
  • Finnish: genetiikka — branch of biology
  • French: génétique — branch of biology
  • West-Frisian: erflikheidslear — branch of biology
  • Galician: xenética — branch of biology
  • Georgian: გენეტიკა (geneṭiḳa) — branch of biology
  • German: Genetik — branch of biology
  • German: Vererbungslehre — branch of biology
  • Greek: γενετική (genetikí) — branch of biology
  • Guianese Creole: jénétik — branch of biology
  • Haitian Creole: jenetik — branch of biology
  • Hebrew: גֶּנֶטִיקָה (genétika) — branch of biology
  • Hindi: अनुवांशिकी (anuvāñśikī) — branch of biology
  • Hungarian: genetika — branch of biology
  • Icelandic: erfðafræði — branch of biology
  • Icelandic: erfðagreining — branch of biology
  • Ido: genetiko — branch of biology
  • Indonesian: genetika — branch of biology
  • Interlingua: genetica — branch of biology
  • Irish: géineolaíocht — branch of biology
  • Italian: genetica — branch of biology
  • Jamaican Creole: jinetix — branch of biology
  • Japanese: 遺伝学 (idengaku) — branch of biology
  • Kannada: ತಳಿವಿಜ್ಞಾನ (taḷivijñāna) — branch of biology
  • Kazakh: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Khmer: ពន្ធុវិទ្យា (pŏənthuʼ vicciə) — branch of biology
  • Korean: 유전학 (yujeonhak) — branch of biology
  • Central Kurdish: جێنەتیک (cênetîk) — branch of biology
  • Kyrgyz: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Lao: ພັນທຸສາດ (phan thu sāt) — branch of biology
  • Latvian: ģenētika — branch of biology
  • Lithuanian: genetika — branch of biology
  • Luxembourgish: Geneetik — branch of biology
  • Macedonian: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Malay: genetik — branch of biology
  • Malay: kaji baka — branch of biology
  • Malayalam: ജനിതകശാസ്ത്രം (janitakaśāstraṁ) — branch of biology
  • Mingrelian: გენეტიკა (geneṭiḳa) — branch of biology
  • Mongolian: генетик (genetik) — branch of biology
  • Mongolian: удам зүй (udam züj) — branch of biology
  • Mongolian: удамшлын судлал (udamšlyn sudlal) — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Bokmål: genetikk — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Bokmål: arvelighetslære — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: genetikk — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: arvelære — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: nedarvingslære — branch of biology
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: nedervingslære — branch of biology
  • Occitan: genetica — branch of biology
  • Oromo: jeneetiik — branch of biology
  • Pashto: جنتیک — branch of biology
  • Persian: ژنتیک (ženetik) — branch of biology
  • Polish: genetyka — branch of biology
  • Portuguese: genética — branch of biology
  • Punjabi: جینیٹکس (jenīṭks) — branch of biology
  • Quechua: hinitika — branch of biology
  • Romanian: genetică — branch of biology
  • Russian: гене́тика (genɛ́tika) — branch of biology
  • Scottish Gaelic: gintinneachd — branch of biology
  • Serbo-Croatian: генѐтика — branch of biology
  • Serbo-Croatian: genètika — branch of biology
  • Shona: ruambamabari — branch of biology
  • Sinhalese: ප්රවේණි විද්යාව (prawēṇi widyāwa) — branch of biology
  • Slovak: genetika — branch of biology
  • Slovene: genetika — branch of biology
  • Spanish: genética — branch of biology
  • Sundanese: génétika — branch of biology
  • Swahili: jenetiki — branch of biology
  • Swedish: genetik — branch of biology
  • Swedish: ärftlighetslära — branch of biology
  • Swedish: ärftlighetsforskning — branch of biology
  • Tagalog: henetika — branch of biology
  • Tajik: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Tajik: офаринишшиносӣ (ofariniššinosi) — branch of biology
  • Tamil: மரபியல் (marapiyal) — branch of biology
  • Telugu: జన్యుశాస్త్రం (janyuśāstraṁ) — branch of biology
  • Thai: พันธุศาสตร์ (pan-tú-sàat) — branch of biology
  • Turkish: genetik — branch of biology
  • Tuvan: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Ukrainian: гене́тика (henétyka) — branch of biology
  • Urdu: جینیات (jenyāt) — branch of biology
  • Uzbek: genetika — branch of biology
  • Vietnamese: di truyền học — branch of biology
  • Volapük: geredav — branch of biology
  • Welsh: genetig — branch of biology
  • Welsh: geneteg — branch of biology
  • Yakut: генетика (genetika) — branch of biology
  • Yiddish: גענעטיק (genetik) — branch of biology
  • Esperanto: genetiko — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Finnish: genetiikka — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • German: Genetik — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Greek: γενετική (genetikí) — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Ido: genetiko — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Indonesian: genetika — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Irish: géinitic — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Japanese: 遺伝的特性 (identekitokusei) — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
  • Yiddish: גענעטיק (genetik) — genetic makeup of a specific individual or species
Real reading context

genetics in complete knowledge articles