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, source, root, seedbed, spring, well, wellspringRelated 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, seed, root, seedbedRelated 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, ancestry, parentage, pedigree, stock, strainRelated Words heredity, succession; family, house; kin, kindred, relations, relatives; raceNear Antonyms offspring; child, heir, inheritor, son, successorAntonyms issue, posterity, progeny, seed