When you hear 'genus' are you hearing English or Latin?

'Genus' is a word borrowed from Latin 'genus'. The word entered the English language some time around 1551.

genus [noun] [1551]

• a class, kind, or group marked by common characteristics or by one common characteristic
• a category of biological classification ranking between the family and the species, comprising structurally or phylogen...
• a class of objects divided into several subordinate species

See 'genus' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Latin.

Etymology: Latin 'gener-, genus' birth, race, kind

See more loan words from 1500s.