gens

Meaning

1. A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth, marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the same nomen gentilicium.
2. A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line.
3. A host-specific lineage of a brood parasite species.^([W])

Synonyms

name

family

👪

extended family

folk

gender

genus

house

🏠

kin

marriage

💍

people

🧑‍🤝‍🧑

tribe

blood

🩸

family line

clan

Pronounced as (IPA)

/d͡ʒɛnz/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin gēns (“gens; people, tribe”), from Proto-Italic *gentis, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis (“birth; production”), from *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”) + *-tis (“suffix forming abstract or action nouns from verb roots”). Doublet of kind, genesis, and jati. See also gender, generate, gentile, genus; also Latin gigno (“I bring forth”).