gene

See also: Gene, gène, gêne, gêné, ĝene, and -gène

Contents

English

Etymology

From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). Coined by the Danish biologist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen in a German-language publication.

Pronunciation

• enPR: jēn, IPA^(key): /dʒiːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːn
• Homophones: Gene, Jean

Noun

gene (plural genes)

1. (genetics) A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms ; a gene may take several values and in principle predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color.
   • The gene has been defined by the Danish botanist, plant physiologist, and geneticist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen, in 1909 in the book Arvelighedslærens Elementer (elements of the study of heredity), as the unit of heredity.
   • 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10:

     The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.

2. (molecular biology) A segment of DNA or RNA from a cell's or an organism's genome, that may take several forms and thus parameterizes a phenomenon, in general the structure of a protein; locus.
   • A change in a gene is reflected in the protein or RNA molecule that it codes for.

Usage notes

• In the simplest case and in principle, a gene locus is supposed to be the physical reality corresponding to the theoretical gene unit of heredity; in practice, things are far more complicated and confused, which is well known and acknowledged. However, these questions are the subject of still very active scientific research, as well as the topic of both scientific and philosophical questions, especially on the real compatibility between both senses of the term.

Derived terms

terms derived from "gene"

• gene complex
• gene flow
• gene frequency
• gene pool
• gene product
• gene-splicing
• gene therapy

• genetic
• geneticist
• genetics
• genome
• genotype
• pseudogene

Related terms

• pangene

See also

• locus
• allele
• dominant
• recessive

Translations

unit of heredity

• Albanian: gjen (sq) m
• Arabic: جِين‎‎ m (jīn)
• Armenian: գեն (hy) (gen)
• Azerbaijani: gen
• Belarusian: ген m (hjen)
• Bengali: জিন (jin)
• Bulgarian: ген (bg) m (gen)
• Catalan: gen (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 基因 (zh) (jīyīn)

  Min Nan: 基因 (ki-in), 遺傳子 (ûi-thoân-chú)

• Czech: gen (cs) m
• Danish: gen (da) n
• Dutch: gen (nl) n
• Esperanto: geno (eo)
• Estonian: geen
• Faroese: ílega f, arvaeind f
• Finnish: geeni (fi), perintötekijä (fi)
• French: gène (fr) m
• Galician: xene m
• Georgian: გენი (geni)
• German: Gen (de) n
• Greek: γονίδιο (el) n (gonídio)
• Gujarati: જનીન (janīn)
• Hebrew: גֶּן‎‎ (he) m (gen)
• Hindi: जीन (hi) m (jīn), वंशाणु m (vanśāṇu), पित्रैक (pitraik)
• Hungarian: gén (hu)
• Ido: geno (io)
• Indonesian: gen (id)
• Irish: géin f
• Italian: gene (it) m
• Japanese: 遺伝子 (ja) (いでんし, idenshi)
• Kazakh: ген (gen)
• Khmer: កត្តាបន្តពូជ (kattaa bɑntɑɑ puu cɔɔ)
• Korean: 유전자 (ko) (yujeonja)
• Kyrgyz: ген (gen)

• Lao: ກະລະລະ (ka la la)
• Latvian: gēns m
• Lingala: kobóta
• Lithuanian: genas m
• Macedonian: ген m (gen)
• Malay: gen
• Mongolian: ген (mn) (gen)
• Nepali: वंशाणु (wãśāṇu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gen m, n

• Persian: ژن‎‎ (fa) (žen)
• Polish: gen (pl) m
• Portuguese: gene (pt) m
• Romanian: genă (ro) f
• Russian: ген (ru) m (gen)
• Scottish Gaelic: gine f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ген m

  Roman: gen (sh) m

• Sinhalese: ජාන (jāna)
• Slovak: gén m
• Slovene: gen (sl) m
• Spanish: gen (es) m, gene (es) m
• Swedish: gen (sv) c
• Tagalog: hene
• Tajik: ген (gen)
• Telugu: జన్యువు (te) (janyuvu)
• Thai: หน่วยพันธุกรรม (nùay pan-tú-gam)
• Turkish: gen (tr)
• Turkmen: gen
• Ukrainian: ген m (hen)
• Urdu: جین‎‎ m (jīn)
• Uzbek: gen (uz)
• Vietnamese: gen (vi), di tố
• Volapük: gered
• Yiddish: גען‎‎ (gen)

Anagrams

• Enge

---

Danish

Etymology

From French gêne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɕeːnə/

Noun

gene c (singular definite genen, plural indefinite gener)

1. Something that bothers; a nuisance.

   Røgen fra skorstenen er til gene for naboerne.

   The smoke from the chimney is bothering the neighbours.

Declension

Declension of gene

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	gene	genen	gener	generne
genitive	genes	genens	geners	genernes

References

• “gene” in Den Danske Ordbog

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːnə

Adjective

gene

1. Inflected form of geen

Anagrams

• geen, neeg, nege

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛ.ne/, [ˈd͡ʒɛːn̺e]
• Rhymes: -ɛne
• Stress: gène
• Hyphenation: ge‧ne

Etymology 1

From German Gen.

Noun

gene m (plural geni)

1. (genetics) gene

Related terms

• genetica
• genetico
• genetista
• genico
• genotipo

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

gene f pl

1. plural of gena

---

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *gēn, from Proto-Germanic *jainaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɣeːnə/

Determiner

gêne

1. that over there, yonder

Descendants

• Dutch: geen

Further reading

• “ghene (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “gene”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

---

Portuguese

Noun

gene m

1. (genetics) gene

Related terms

• genética

---

Spanish

Noun

gene m (plural genes)

1. gene

Synonyms

• gen m

---

Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic yana‎ (yana).

Adverb

gene

1. (colloquial) yine (again)

Noun

gene

1. dative singular of gen