genus
n. countablen. a group of animals or plants that are very similar to each other. It is a level of classification used by scientists to organize living things.
n. a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms. It sits above species and below family, grouping together organisms with shared structural characteristics.
The lion and the tiger belong to the same genus.
Biologists recently moved the species to a different genus after analyzing its DNA more closely.
While the two plants appear identical to the untrained eye, subtle differences in their reproductive structures place them in entirely separate genera within the same family.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Latin genusbor. English genus Borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, origin, a race, sort, kind”) from the root gen- in Latin gignō (“to beget, produce”). Doublet of gender and genre, further related to kin.
The plural form is 'genera'. In scientific writing, the name is always capitalized and usually italicized.
The genus areThe genus isGenus is a singular noun; the plural form is 'genera'.