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-gen
1- a combining form meaning “that which produces,” used in the formation of compound words:
endogen; hydrogen.
gen.
2abbreviation for
- gender.
- general.
- genitive.
- genus.
Gen.
3abbreviation for
- Military. General.
- Bible. Genesis.
- Geneva.
-gen
1suffix forming nouns
- producing or that which produces
hydrogen
- something produced
carcinogen
gen
2/ dʒɛn /
noun
- informal.information See also gen up
give me the gen on your latest project
Gen.
3abbreviation for
- General
- Bible Genesis
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of -gen1
Origin of -gen2
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Example Sentences
In 1951, Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.
A recent propaganda video courtesy of Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha is the latest example.
The students were protesting the May 22 military coup that brought a junta and Gen. Prayut to power.
So why does its fandom seem largely limited to the Gen Xers who saw the show in its first run?
Will breakfast at Balthazar bring sudden revelations about Millennials and Gen Xers and their taste in wheels?
He saw Gen. Braddock as he passed on to his defeat, and could give a succinct account of that sanguinary action.
The British had fired 143 cannon shot into the fort before the arrival of Gen. Clay.
Orangeburgh surrendered to the American Gen. Sumpter; prisoners taken, 82.
Let some feller come in here with a gen'ral store, sellin' for cash—and cuttin' prices, eh?
GEN. Perianthium sexpartitum, regulare, glumaceum, persistens.
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Words That Use -gen
What does -gen mean?
The combining form –gen is used like a suffix meaning “that which produces.” It is often used in scientific and technical terms, especially in chemistry and biology.
The form –gen comes from Greek –genēs, meaning “born” or “produced.” The Latin translation and cognate of –genēs is nātus, meaning “born,” which is the source of natal, native, and nature. Find out how these terms derive from nātus at our entry for each word.
What are variants of –gen?
While the form –gen doesn’t have any variants, it is related to the combining forms –genic, –geny, and –genous, as in heterogenic, heterogeny, and heterogenous. The form –gen is also closely related to the combining forms –genesis and –genetic as in carcinogenesis and autogenetic. Read our Words That Use articles for –genic, –geny, –genous, –genesis, and –genetic to learn more.
Examples of -gen
An example of a word you may have encountered that features –gen is carcinogen, “any substance or agent that tends to produce a cancer.”
We know –gen means “that which produces,” and the carcino– portion of the word refers to “cancer,” from Greek karkínos. Carcinogen literally translates to “that which produces cancer.”
What are some words that use the combining form –gen?
- adaptogen
- androgen
- dipsogen
- estrogen
- hydrogen (using the equivalent form of –gen in French)
- pathogen
- zymogen (using the equivalent form of –gen in German)
What are some other forms that –gen may be commonly confused with?
Not every word that ends with the exact letters –gen, such as trudgen or smidgen, is necessarily using the combining form –gen to denote “that which produces.” Learn what trudgen has to do with swimming at our entry for the word.
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