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

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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

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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

See Examples For:

origin origins

The hackers also obtained access to unique student identifier numbers as well as information about gender, race or ethnicity, primary language, country of origin and English learner status.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

Probably of Teutonic origin, the word first appeared in Middle English in the early 13th century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

But Williams said the unusually large amount detected in the HS 0209+0832 system points toward a very different origin.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026

"The uncertainty and other conditions they faced in the Democratic Republic of Congo call into question whether these returns to countries of origin were voluntary," the group said.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Herschel did not have the correct mechanism for the origin of species, but he posed the correct question.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The exact origins of the Grand Condé remain a mystery.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

But the French origins of Proposition 40 are significant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The original 12-song LP clocked in at a swift 33 minutes, while the special edition features a whopping 104 tracks, along with Costello’s 72-page essay about the album’s origins.

From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2026

Scientists have reconstructed a remarkably detailed family tree of cells in a developing mouse embryo, tracing their origins back to the moment a fertilized egg first divided into two cells.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

What he needed was a book that gave him information about its origins, its diet, its weaknesses.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

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Related Words

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

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