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• genet
  genet

  noun

  any small, Old World carnivore of the genus Genetta, especially G. genetta, having spotted sides and a ringed tail.
• Genet
  Genet

  noun

  Jean 1910–86, French playwright and novelist.
• Genêt
  Genêt

  noun

  Edmond Charles Edouard Citizen Genêt, 1763–1834, French minister to the U.S. in 1793.

genet

¹ American  

[jen-it, juh-net] / ˈdʒɛn ɪt, dʒəˈnɛt /

Or genette

noun

1. any small, Old World carnivore of the genus Genetta, especially G. genetta, having spotted sides and a ringed tail.

2. the fur of such an animal.

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genet ² American  

[jen-it] / ˈdʒɛn ɪt /

noun

1. jennet.

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Genet ³ American  

[zhuh-nay, zhuh-ne] / ʒəˈneɪ, ʒəˈnɛ /

noun

1. Jean 1910–86, French playwright and novelist.

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Genêt ⁴ American  

[zhuh-nay, zhuh-ne] / ʒəˈneɪ, ʒəˈnɛ /

noun

1. Edmond Charles Edouard Citizen Genêt, 1763–1834, French minister to the U.S. in 1793.

2. pen name of Janet Flanner.

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genet ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒɛnɪt, dʒɪˈnɛt /

noun

1. any agile catlike viverrine mammal of the genus Genetta, inhabiting wooded regions of Africa and S Europe, having an elongated head, thick spotted or blotched fur, and a very long tail

2. the fur of such an animal

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Genet ² British  

/ ʒənɛ /

noun

1. Jean (ʒɑ̃). 1910–86, French dramatist and novelist; his novels include Notre-Dame des Fleurs (1944) and his plays Les Bonnes (1947) and Le Balcon (1956)

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genet ³ British  

/ ˈdʒɛnɪt /

noun

1. an obsolete spelling of jennet

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Etymology

Origin of genet

1375–1425; late Middle English < Old French genette < Arabic jarnait

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

genet Genet Genêt

A major limitation was that the process only worked when the two corals shared the same genetic background, or "genet."

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

Like the egret, the genet feeds on insects stirred up by the grazing ungulates.

From National Geographic ● Sep. 17, 2015

At around $5 per pound, the servaline genet, a type of small carnivore, was the most expensive species for sale at both urban and rural markets.

From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2011

The lavender had not yet bloomed, but roses were in flower; yellow genet flamed above the low stone hotel walls.

From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2011

Later, when she listened to the hoot of an eagle owl, the hiss of a genet, and the hrrr-hrrr grunt of a foraging honey badger, she didn’t feel quite as confident.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Mr. Currey asks an important question about Genet, but assays no answer: “Was it prison that enabled his writing, or was it the act of theft that he practiced so assiduously during all those years?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

Isaac Paulos lived with his parents, Genet Shawo and Paulos Tekle, and his three-year-old brother Luca on the 18th floor.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2024

His father, the founder of Grove Press, was a towering figure who published writers like Jean Genet and William S. Burroughs.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2023

Gilman quotes these words in his Village Voice tribute to Jean Genet — and they apply equally well to his superlative criticism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2023

Genet had been sent to America by the French Republic, as her minister.

From Famous American Statesmen by Sarah Knowles Bolton

Glamorously writing under the byline Genêt, she filled her dispatches with more fizz than champagne.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026

He reluctantly accepted a second term, but Citizen Genêt, the Democratic-Republican Societies, protests of Jay’s Treaty, and the Whiskey Rebellion had all tested his reliance on deference and consensus.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

Genêt would not accept this decision and kept recruiting supporters, warmly courting the Democratic-Republican Societies, and hinting at Washington’s overthrow.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

The infuriated president demanded Genêt’s recall, and the Genêt Affair convinced Federalists that French revolutionaries could never be trusted.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

Washington gave Genêt what amounted to a diplomatic cold shoulder, meeting with him very briefly, but refusing to discuss the subject of United States support of the French.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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