Added 1 October 2026
gens
/d͡ʒɛnz/ noun
In Latin: gēns Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about gens at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- 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.
- A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line; clan.
- A host-specific lineage of a brood parasite species.
noun
- plural of gen (clipping of generation).
verb
- third-person singular simple present indicative of gen
Origin
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”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)