origin

American  

[awr-i-jin, or-] / ˈɔr ɪ dʒɪn, ˈɒr- /

noun

origins plural

1. something from which anything arises or is derived; source; fountainhead.

   to follow a stream to its origin.

   Synonyms:

   foundation, root

   Antonyms:

   end, destination

2. rise or derivation from a particular source.

   the origin of a word.

3. the first stage of existence; beginning.

   the origin of Quakerism in America.

4. ancestry; parentage; extraction.

   to be of Scottish origin.

   Synonyms:

   descent, linage, birth

5. Anatomy.

   1. the point of derivation.

   2. the more fixed portion of a muscle.

6. Mathematics.

   1. the point in a Cartesian coordinate system where the axes intersect.

   2. Also called pole.  the point from which rays designating specific angles originate and are measured from in a polar coordinate system with no axes.

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origin British  

/ ˈɒrɪdʒɪn /

noun

1. a primary source; derivation

2. the beginning of something; first stage or part

3. (often plural) ancestry or parentage; birth; extraction

4. anatomy

   1. the end of a muscle, opposite its point of insertion

   2. the beginning of a nerve or blood vessel or the site where it first starts to branch out

5. maths

   1. the point of intersection of coordinate axes or planes

   2. the point whose coordinates are all zero See also pole 2

6. commerce the country from which a commodity or product originates

   shipment from origin

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origin Scientific  

/ ôr′ə-jĭn /

1. The point at which the axes of a Cartesian coordinate system intersect. The coordinates of the origin are (0,0) in two dimensions and (0,0,0) in three dimensions.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• origins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of origin

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin orīgin-, stem of orīgō “beginning, source, lineage,” from or(īrī) “to rise” ( cf. orient) + -īgō, noun suffix

Explanation

An origin is a start. You could say that the origin of yoga was in India, since that's where the practice began, or that the origin of the strawberries in the market is Mexico, since they were grown there. If your best friend asks you about the origin of your fear of mariachi bands, it means that she wants to know where your phobia came from. Your ancestry is another kind of origin — you might mention your Eastern European origin if that's where your ancestors came from. The root, start, or birth of something is its origin. The origin of the word origin is the Latin word originem, meaning "rise, beginning, or source."

Example Sentences

Rob Sinclair from Blue Origin attended the conference.

From BBC • Jun. 17, 2026

For AST SpaceMobile, the launch could help erase painful memories of the loss of a previous satellite in April due to a botched launch by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ rocket company.

From Barron's • Jun. 17, 2026

Bezos also addressed a Blue Origin rocket’s explosion on the launchpad last month.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026

While sector giants such as SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin can survive a big setback—Blue Origin currently is racing to rebuild a Florida launchpad wrecked by an explosion—smaller startups often can’t.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 15, 2026

On November 24, 1859, on a wintry Thursday morning, Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection appeared in bookstores in England, priced at fifteen shillings a copy.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• ancestor
• ancestry
• connection
• element
• influence
• motive
• provenance
• root
• source