English
genuine
Genuine comes from Latin genuīnus ‘innate, native, natural’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English genuine
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1906, Violet Tweedale, Lady Sarah's Son: “[…] and before you could say 'scissors' that customer…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgenuīnusWiktionary, English genuine‘innate’
- Englishearliest quotation 1906genuineWiktionary, English genuine. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1906, Violet Tweedale, Lady Sarah's Son: “[…] and before you could say 'scissors' that customer…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with genuine, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to beget, give birth’
- kind ← kynde ← cynd ← *kundi ← *kinþiz
- nature ← nātūral ← nāscor ← *gnāskōr ← *ǵn̥h₁-sḱé-ti
- king ← cening ← *kuning ← *kuningaz ← *kunją
- nation ← nacioun ← nacion ← nātiōnem ← nātiō
- general ← generālis ← genus ← *genos ← *ǵénh₁os
- german ← germain ← germānus ← germen ← *genamen
- native ← natif ← natif ← nātīvus ← īvus
- pregnant ← preignant ← preignant ← praegnāns ← nāscor
- generation ← generacioun ← generacion ← generātiō ← generō
- engine ← engyn ← ingenium ← gignō ← *gignō
- gender ← gendre ← gendre ← genus ← *genos
- ken ← kennen ← cennan ← *kannjan ← *kanjaną
139 more relatives in the full family tree
No ads, ever.
Explore everything descended from genuīnus →
No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.
Become a founding member, $29 onceWear this word, $32Support the app
Today it means
adj Belonging to, or proceeding from the original stock; native.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “genuine”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin genuīnus / genuine