What does -genesis mean? The combining form -genesis is used like a suffix meaning “genesis.” Genesis means "an origin, creation, or beginning." The form -genesis is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology. In particular, it describes the process of creation. The form -genesis comes from Greek génesis, meaning “origin” or “source,” source of the English word genesis. The Latin translation of -génesis is orīgō, which is the source of words such as aboriginal and origin. To learn more, check out our entries for both aboriginal and origin. What are variants of -genesis?While the form -genesis doesn't have any variants, it is related to the combining form -genetic, as in phylogenetic. The form -genesis is also closely related to the combining forms -gen, -geny, -genic, and -genous, as in pathogen, heterogeny, hallucinogenic, and heterogenous. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for -genetic, -genic, -geny, -genic, and -genous.
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin: “generation, birth,” from Greek génesis “origin, source”
First recorded before 1100; from Latin: literally “generation, creation,” from Greek Génesis, the Greek rendering of Hebrew bĕrēʾshith, the first word of the Biblical book, traditionally translated “in the beginning”; see genesis ( def. )
When you talk about the genesis of something, you're talking about where it began. The genesis of hip-hop music was the party scene in New York City’s South Bronx in the 1970s. The Jewish Torah and the Christian Scriptures begin with the book of Genesis, which describes God separating light from darkness and creating the universe. Genesis is the very start of something, its birth. But you probably wouldn't refer to your own birth as a genesis. When you describe something as a genesis, you're usually referring to the beginning of a movement or an idea.
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PGA Tour data from the Genesis showed virtually all the men played down the left fairway.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026
Back in Genesis, God tells Adam, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
From Salon • May 19, 2026
One of the Genesis Mission challenges is a federal initiative aimed at “accelerating delivery of fusion energy.”
From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026
Before City versus Palace, he had 70 points, his guests - Crookhaven stars Amari Bacchus & Genesis Lynea - both had 60 points, the BBC readers had 30 points and AI had 20 points.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
According to Genesis, God had gathered the waters together on the third day of creation in order to make dry land.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
