Advertisement

gene (n.)

1911, from German Gen, coined 1905 by Danish scientist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen (1857-1927), from Greek genea "generation, race," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget." De Vries had earlier called them pangenes. Gene pool is attested from 1946.

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of gene from WordNet

gene (n.)
(genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity;
genes were formerly called factors
Synonyms: cistron / factor
From wordnet.princeton.edu