gene
n. countablen. a tiny piece of information inside every living thing that decides how it looks and grows. You inherit these from your parents, and they determine things like your eye color or height.
n. a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring. It consists of a specific sequence of nucleotides in DNA or RNA that encodes the synthesis of a gene product.
She has the gene for blue eyes.
Scientists are studying which genes make certain plants more resistant to dry weather.
The expression of a specific gene can be influenced by environmental factors, meaning that having the genetic code for a trait does not always guarantee its physical manifestation.
From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to come into being”). Coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen in 1909, in a German-language publication, from the last syllable of pangene.
Commonly used with verbs like 'carry', 'inherit', or 'identify'.