Generate

How to spell generate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce generate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does generate mean?

1. verbTo produce or bring something into existence, such as power, income, or ideas.

Generate in a sentence

• The new turbines can generate enough power for the whole town.

• The campaign was designed to generate interest among younger customers.

Where does generate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb generare, meaning 'to beget, to bring into being, to produce', which was built on the noun genus, meaning 'birth, race, or kind'. That same genus root underlies a whole family of English words, including 'gene', 'genus', 'genesis', and 'genuine', all touching on the idea of origin and descent. English adopted generare directly in the early 1500s, keeping the literal sense of bringing something into existence, whether offspring, ideas, or, much later, electricity and revenue. The spelling stays close to the Latin, with the soft 'g' before 'e' and the predictable -ate ending shared by many verbs derived from Latin past participles. Because the second syllable is an unstressed schwa, some writers hesitate over whether it is spelled with an 'e' or an 'a', but the gener- stem keeps it firmly an 'e'.

How the word is built

• gener- (from genus/generare: to beget, produce)
• -ate (verb suffix)