-gen

comb. form 1 Chem. that which produces (hydrogen; antigen).
2 Bot. growth (endogen; exogen; acrogen).
Etymology: F -gegravene f. Gk -genes -born, of a specified kind f. gen- root of gignomai be born, become

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gen «jehn», noun, verb, genned, gen|ning. British Slang.

–n.

inside information; low-down.

–v.t.

to give inside information to.

╂[perhaps < gen(eral information)]

-gen,

combining form.

1. something produced or growing, as in acrogen.

2. something that produces, as in allergen, nitrogen.

╂[< French -gène < Greek -gen born < génos a kind < gígnesthai be born]

gen.,

1. gender.

2. genera.

3. a) general. b) generally.

4. genitive.

5. genus.

Gen.,

1. General.

2. Genesis.

3. a) Geneva. b) Genevan.

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comb. form

1) Chemistry denoting a substance that produces something

oxygen | allergen

2) Botany denoting a substance or plant that is produced

cultigen

•

Origin:

via French -gène from Greek genēs ‘-born, of a specified kind’, from gen- (root of gignomai ‘be born, become’, genos ‘a kind’)

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-gen, suffix

(-dʒɛn)

forming ns. in mod. scientific use; ad. F. -gène, ultimately repr. Gr. -γενής (f. γεν- root of γί-γν-εσθαι to be born, become, γεν-νάειν to beget, γέν-ος kind, etc.: see kin) an adjective suffix which has two different uses: (1) giving the sense ‘born in a certain place or condition’, as in οίκογενής, ἐνδογενής born in the house (respectively f. οἶκος house and ἔνδον within); (2) giving the sense ‘of a (specified) kind’, as in ὁµογενής of the same kind, homogeneous, ἑτερογενής of another kind, heterogeneous. The F. -gène in scientific terms has two distinct applications (of different origin) both of which have been adopted in Eng.

1. Chem. In 1777–9 Lavoisier (Œuvres II. 249) proposed for the recently discovered element (till then known as ‘dephlogisticated air’, etc.) the alternative names principe acidifiant and principe oxygine, which he states to be etymologically synonymous. In G. de Morveau Nomencl. chimique 1787 (prepared in collaboration with Lavoisier and other chemists) the ns. oxygène and hydrogène occur, and are explained to mean ‘engendrant l'acide’ and ‘engendrant l'eau’; and in Lavoisier's Traité de Chimie 1789 the etymon of the suffix is said to be ‘Gr. γείνοµαι, j'engendre’. This etymology accounts for Lavoisier's original form oxygine; the change of -gine into -gène must have been due to the observation that -gine did not occur in Gr. derivatives, while -gène, from the same root, already existed in hétérogène, homogène (ad. Gr. words in -γενής: see above); the fact that the suffix -γενής in Gr. words was not capable of meaning ‘that which produces’ was overlooked or disregarded. The names oxygène, hydrogène were soon adopted into Eng. with the ending -gene, afterwards altered to -gen. On the analogy of these words, a considerable number of new terms have been added to the common (French and Eng.) vocabulary of chemistry, in which the ending -gène, -gen expresses the sense ‘that which produces’; they are usually names of chemical substances, as nitrogen, amidogen, cyanogen, etc.; rarely of classes of substances, as halogen, † amphigen.

2. Bot. The botanical use of -gène was introduced in 1813 by Decandolle (Théorie de Botanique 210) in the words endogène, exogène, adjs. designating two classes of plants which respectively produce their new tissue internally (Gr. ἔνδο-ν within) and externally (Gr. ἔξω outside). The formation of the words was suggested by the older terms endorhize, exorhize. Decandolle gives as the etymon of the suffix ‘γεναω [sic!], j'engendre, je crois’; app. his -gène was not a new adoption from Gr. -γενής, but a different application of the -gène already used in chemical terms, which he vaguely remembered to be derived from a Gr. root meaning ‘to produce, to grow’. The adjs. endogène, exogène first came into Eng. in the adapted forms endogenous, exogenous; Lindley c 1845 formed from these the ns. endogen, exogen; and he and others added many analogous terms denoting classes of plants, the first element indicating the part at which the new growth takes place, or some characteristic of their mode of growth, as acrogen, amphigen, dictyogen, thallogen. The suffix is also occasionally used in terms denoting plant tissues that give rise to particular kinds of cells, as calyptrogen, dermatogen, phellogen.

3. Geol. In the form -gene, used in terms indicating the type, method, or place of formation, as tectogene.