Word of the Day

: June 13, 2017

engender

verb in-JEN-der

What It Means

1 : beget, procreate

2 : to cause to exist or to develop : produce

3 : to assume form : originate

engender in Context

The annual company picnic featured activities, such as a scavenger hunt, meant to engender a sense of teamwork and camaraderie among employees.

"Whatever money they save is more than offset by the ill will they engender, particularly in an era when everyone has a smartphone and a way of sharing their outrage with the world." — USA Today, 16 Apr. 2017

Did You Know?

When engender was first used in the 14th century, it meant "propagate" or "procreate," but extended meanings soon developed. Engender comes from the Latin verb generare, which means "to generate" or "to beget." Generate, regenerate, degenerate, and generation are of course related to the Latin verb as well. As you might suspect, the list of engender relatives does not end there. Generare comes from the Latin noun genus, meaning "birth," "race," or "kind." From this source we have our own word genus, plus gender, general, and generic, among other words.