Generic

How to spell generic

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce generic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does generic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to a whole class or group rather than to one specific thing; lacking a distinctive brand or character.

Generic in a sentence

• The pharmacist offered a cheaper generic version of the same medicine.

• The report was so generic that it could have described almost any company.

Where does generic come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Generic comes from the Latin noun genus (in its stem form gener-), which meant 'kind', 'class', 'race', or 'type', the same root that gives us 'genus' in biology, 'gender', 'genre', and 'general'. The Latin form passed through French as generique before settling into English in the mid 1600s, when it described something belonging to a whole class rather than to a single member of it. From that classifying sense it broadened to mean 'not specific' or 'lacking distinctive character', and by the twentieth century it took on its now familiar commercial use for unbranded products, especially medicines sold under their chemical name rather than a trademark. The spelling keeps the gener- of genus intact, so remembering its kinship with 'general' and 'genre' helps fix the single n and the -ic ending. The deeper Indo-European root meant 'to give birth' or 'to beget', which is why so many words about kinds and origins, including 'generate' and 'genesis', share the same family.

How the word is built

• gener- (from Latin genus, generis: kind, race, type)
• -ic (adjective-forming suffix meaning 'relating to')