name
Meaning 1
A surname from German.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
gens
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.
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /d͡ʒɛnz/
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General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ɡɛns/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛnz
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CMU ARPABET: JH EH1 N Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth, marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the same nomen gentilicium.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ancient-Rome, historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line; clan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: anthropology, human-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A host-specific lineage of a brood parasite species.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
plural of gen (clipping of generation).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
plural of Gen
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: form-of, plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
family based on male descent
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he had no sons and there was no one to carry on his name
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: name
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: family, family line, folk, kinfolk, kinsfolk, sept, phratry
History
Etymology
Borrowed from German Gens, a variant of Jens.
Borrowed from Latin gēns (“gens; people, tribe”), from Proto-Italic *gentis, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh1tis (“birth; production”), from *ǵenh1- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”) + *-tis (suffix forming abstract or action nouns from verb roots). Doublet of kind, genesis, and jati. See also gender, generate, gentile, genus; also Latin gigno (“to bring forth”).
Clipping of generations.
Across languages
Translations
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: род (rod) — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Dutch: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Finnish: suku — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Finnish: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- German: Gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Hungarian: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Ido: gento — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Italian: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Japanese: ゲンス — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Latin: gēns — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Norwegian: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Polish: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Portuguese: gente — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Portuguese: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Russian: род (rod) — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Serbo-Croatian: gȅns — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Spanish: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Swedish: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society
- Turkish: gens — legally defined unit of Roman society