English
degeneration
Degeneration comes from Latin dēgenerātiō, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēgenerātiō
- Frenchc. 1600–presentdégénération
- Englishearliest quotation 1650degeneration
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēgenerātiō
- Frenchc. 1600–presentdégénération
- Englishearliest quotation 1650degeneration
Earliest quotation: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “cockle, aracus, […] and other degenerations”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
kind, king, nature, general, german, engine, pregnant, native, nation, genius, ken, gender, oxygen, genuine, indigenous, gentle, genre, gene, naive, hydrogen, kin, noel, genocide, genus, innate, natal, genital, nada, naïve, nee, ingenious, nascent, nativity, germ, janata, puny, gentile, gens, glycogen, jaunty, 115 more
Today it means
noun The process or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / degeneration