origin

origin

noun

Definition of ORIGIN

1

a point or place at which something is invented or provided <the origins of human language remain a matter of considerable debate>

Synonyms cradle, font, fountain, fountainhead, origin, root, seedbed, spring, well, wellspring

Related Words beginning, commencement, dawn, day one, genesis, get-go (also git-go), inception, incipience, incipiency, kickoff, launch, morning, nascence, nascency, onset, outset, start, threshold; baseline, first base, ground zero, square one

2

the source from which something grows or develops <the origin of the tradition of giving presents at Christmastime>

Synonyms fountainhead, germ, origin, root, seedbed

Related Words font, fountain, spring, well, wellhead, wellspring; beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, incipiency, launch, morning, onset, outset, start, threshold; creation, inauguration, origination

3

the line of ancestors from whom a person is descended <they could trace their origins back 15 generations>

Synonyms birth, blood, bloodline, breeding, descent, extraction, family tree, genealogy, line, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigree, stock, strain

Related Words heredity, succession; family, house; kin, kindred, relations, relatives; race

Near Antonyms offspring; child, heir, inheritor, son, successor

Antonyms issue, posterity, progeny, seed