genus
ge·nus/ˈd͡ʒiːnəs/noun
genus is spelled G-E-N-U-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables (ge·nus). It appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, genus means “A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below family (Lat. familia) and above species” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of genus is genera or genuses; Wiktionary also lists genusses (nonstandard), genii (nonstandard).
How many letters and syllables are in genus?
| Letters | 5: G-E-N-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: ge·nus |
| In writing | 5.4 times per million words; the 10,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is genus?
Genus appears 5.4 times per million words in written English, the 10,680th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce genus?
- UK /ˈdʒiːnəs/
- UK /ˈdʒɛnəs/
- US /ˈd͡ʒiːnəs/
Genus has 2 syllables, split ge·nus in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-genus.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with genus?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as genus from its last stressed vowel (/inəs/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: negus.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of genus
- genera plural
- genuses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does genus mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below family (Lat. familia) and above species.
All magnolias belong to the genus Magnolia.
- 2
A taxon at this rank.
In most cases, at subsequent mentions of the binomial name you can abbreviate the genus with no danger of confusing the reader.
- 3
A group with common attributes.
- 4
A natural number representing any of several related measures of the complexity of a given manifold or graph.
- 5
Within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept.
- 6
A type of tuning or intonation, used within an Ancient Greek tetrachord.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate genus?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of genus: gen..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Genus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense rank in a taxonomic classification between family and species:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does genus come from?
Borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, origin, a race, sort, kind”) from the root gen- in Latin gignō (“to beget, produce”). Doublet of gender and genre, further related to kin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).