degenerate
/dɪˈdʒenəət/dih-JEH-nur-uht
/dɪˈdʒɛnɚət/dih-JEH-nur-uht
Meaningfallen from one's kind
Common meaning: to decline to a worse state
- dedown, away, off; undoing
- genbirth, descent, race; a typeLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 810 · scan
- erstem link
- ateverb or adjective ending: to make, having
‘down, away, off’ + ‘birth, descent, race’ → degenerate
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin genus ‘birth, descent, race; a type’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry genus, p. 810 · dictionary scan
Roots
- genus, generis Latin “birth, descent, race; a type”
Related words
carcinogencryogenicengendergenuinegenusheterogeneousheterogeneouslyiatrogenicindigenousingeniousoctogenarianparthenogenesis
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