gene
UK[dʒiːn]US[dʒiːn]
n
a unit of DNA that controls a particular characteristic in living things
Etymology
The word 'gene' is a 20th-century scientific term, coined in 1909 by the Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen. He derived it from the German 'Gen', a shortening of 'Pangen', which itself was taken from Charles Darwin's hypothetical 'pangenesis'. Darwin's term combined the Greek prefix 'pan-' (meaning 'all') with 'genesis' (meaning 'origin, creation'). Thus, the core concept embedded in 'gene' is the ancient Greek root gen-, meaning 'to give birth, beget, produce', which perfectly captures its modern function as the fundamental unit of heredity and biological production.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from German. It is not productively segmented in modern English.
Examples
Scientists have identified the gene responsible for this inherited condition.
The trait for blue eyes is carried by a recessive gene.
Advances in technology now allow for the editing of specific genes.