genus

American  

[jee-nuhs] / ˈdʒi nəs /

noun

PLURAL

genera, genuses

1. Biology.  the usual major subdivision of a family or subfamily in the classification of organisms, usually consisting of more than one species.

2. Logic.  a class or group of individuals, or of species of individuals.

3. a kind; sort; class.

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genus British  

/ ˈdʒiːnəs /

noun

1. biology any of the taxonomic groups into which a family is divided and which contains one or more species. For example, Vulpes (foxes) is a genus of the dog family ( Canidae )

2. logic a class of objects or individuals that can be divided into two or more groups or species

3. a class, group, etc, with common characteristics

4. maths a number characterizing a closed surface in topology equal to the number of handles added to a sphere to form the surface. A sphere has genus 0, a torus, genus 1, etc

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genus Scientific  

/ jē′nəs /

PLURAL

genera

1. A group of organisms ranking above a species and below a family. The names of genera, like those of species, are written in italics. For example, Periplaneta is the genus of the American cockroach, and comes from the Greek for “wandering about.”

2. See Table at taxonomy

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genus Cultural  

1. In biology, the classification lower than a family and higher than a species. Wolves belong to the same genus as dogs. Foxes belong to a different genus from that of dogs and wolves, but to the same family. (See Linnean classification.)

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Other Word Forms

• pseudogenus noun

Etymology

Origin of genus

1545–55; < Latin: race, stock, kind, gender; cognate with Greek génos. See gens, gender ¹, kin

Example Sentences

The species - a type of snailfish of the genus Pseudoliparis - was was filmed by an autonomous "lander" dropped into the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan.

From BBC

DNA tests confirmed visual observations that the beetle was distinct from all other species of the genus Bembidion, which generally live near bodies of water.

From Los Angeles Times

In their revised preprint, which they posted on 29 March on the server ChinaXiv, they note that “environmental samples showed the abundance of different vertebrata genera.”

From Science Magazine

Robust populations of just nine species, such as sea otters or gray wolves, or genera, including whales, could lead to the capture of 6.41 gigatons of CO₂ annually, the researchers found.

From Salon

Every plant name needs at a minimum a genus and a species.

From Seattle Times