Genus GE'NUS, n. plu. genuses or genera. [L. genus. See Gender.]
1. In logic, that which has several species under it; a class of a
greater extent than species; a universal which is predicable of several
things of different species. 2. In natural history, an assemblage
of species possessing certain characters in common, by which they are
distinguished from all others. It is subordinate to class and order,and
some arrangements, to tribe and family. A single species, possessing
certain peculiar characters,which belong to no other species, may also
constitute a genus; as the camelopard,and the flamingo. 3. In botany,
a genus is a subdivision containing plants of the same class and order,
which agree in their parts of fructification.
genus noun (pluralgenera; alsogenuses)
Etymology: Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind — more
at kinDate: 1551 1. a class, kind, or group marked by
common characteristics or by one common characteristic; specifically
a category of biological classification ranking between the family and the
species, comprising structurally or phylogenetically related species or an
isolated species exhibiting unusual differentiation, and being designated
by a Latin or latinized capitalized singular noun 2. a class of
objects divided into several subordinate species
genus n. (pl. genera) 1 Biol. a taxonomic grouping of organisms having common characteristics distinct from those of other genera, usu. containing several or many species and being one of a
series constituting a taxonomic family. 2 a kind or class having common characteristics. 3 Logic kinds of things including subordinate kinds or species. Etymology: L genus -eris birth,
race, stock
genus
(genera)
A genus is a class of similar things, especially a group of animals or plants that
includes several closely related species. (TECHNICAL)
N-COUNT
Genus \Ge"nus\ (j[=e]"n[u^]s), n.; pl. Genera. [L., birth,
race, kind, sort; akin to Gr. ?. See Gender, and cf.
Benign.]
1. (Logic) A class of objects divided into several
subordinate species; a class more extensive than a
species; a precisely defined and exactly divided class;
one of the five predicable conceptions, or sorts of terms.
2. (Biol.) An assemblage of species, having so many
fundamental points of structure in common, that in the
judgment of competent scientists, they may receive a
common substantive name. A genus is not necessarily the
lowest definable group of species, for it may often be
divided into several subgenera. In proportion as its
definition is exact, it is natural genus; if its
definition can not be made clear, it is more or less an
artificial genus.
Note: Thus in the animal kingdom the lion, leopard, tiger,
cat, and panther are species of the Cat kind or genus,
while in the vegetable kingdom all the species of oak
form a single genus. Some genera are represented by a
multitude of species, as Solanum (Nightshade) and Carex
(Sedge), others by few, and some by only one known
species.
Subaltern genus (Logic), a genus which may be a species of
a higher genus, as the genus denoted by quadruped, which
is also a species of mammal.
Summum genus [L.] (Logic), the highest genus; a genus which
can not be classed as a species, as being.
genus
n.1. Group (subordinate to a class, tribe, or order), assemblage of species.
2.(Log.) Relative, universal, kind or sort or
class to which particulars belong.
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