different between generations vs gens

English

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d??n???e???nz/
• Hyphenation: gen?er?a?tions

Noun

generations

1. plural of generation

Anagrams

• nitrogenase, renegations

Swedish

Noun

generations

1. indefinite genitive singular of generation

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin g?ns (“gens; people, tribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *?énh?tis (“birth; production”), from *?enh?- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”) + *-tis (“suffix forming abstract or action nouns from verb roots”). Doublet of kind, genesis, and jati. See also gender, generate, gentile, genus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /d???nz/, /??ns/
• Rhymes: -?nz

Noun

gens (plural gentes or genses)

2. (Ancient Rome, historical) A legally defined unit of Roman society, being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth, marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the same nomen gentilicium.
3. (anthropology) A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by having the same descent, usually along the male line.

Usage notes

Regarding sense 1 (“historical Roman unit of society”), the concept is close to and often translated as clan, but the two are not identical. The alternative tribe is also sometimes used, but the Latin tribus has a separate meaning.

Synonyms

• (Roman unit of society): clan, tribe (but see the usage note)

Derived terms

• gentile (“of or pertaining to a gens or several gentes”)

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of generations.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /d???nz/

Noun

gens

1. plural of gen (clipping of generation).

References

Further reading

• gens on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Seng, engs, negs

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin genus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /??ens/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?d??ens/

Adverb

gens

1. a bit, few
2. (in negative phrases) at all

3. any

Further reading

• “gens” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Finnish

Noun

gens

1. gens (unit in Ancient Roman society)

Declension

French

Etymology

From an earlier gents, from the plural of Old French gent, genz, from gentem, accusative of g?ns, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?énh?tis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?ã/
• (Haiti) IPA^(key): /???s/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /???/
• Rhymes: -??
• Homophones: gent, gents, jan, jans, Jean

Noun

gens m pl (plural only)

1. set of people

   Ces gens-là ont toujours été sympas avec moi.

   Those people have always been kind to me.

   Je n’aime pas les gens qui se prennent pour le nombril du monde.

   I don't like people who think the world revolves around them. (Literal meaning: I don't like people who put themselves in the middle of the world.)

Usage notes

• When gens is preceded by an attributive adjective which has a different feminine form, this adjective, along with any preceding determiner, is made feminine. However, adjectives after the noun remain masculine.

Toutes les bonnes gens heureux

Toutes ces honnêtes gens

Derived terms

Related terms

• gent

See also

• peuple m

Further reading

• “gens” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Icelandic

Noun

gens

1. indefinite genitive singular of gen

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *?énh?tis, from root *?enh?- (“to produce, to beget, to give birth”). See also gign?, gener?, genus. Cognate with English kind, Sanskrit ???? (j?ti), Ancient Greek ????? (génos) and Ancient Greek ??????? (génesis), whence English genesis.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ens/, [???s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /d??ens/, [d???ns]

Noun

g?ns f (genitive gentis); third declension

1. Roman clan (related by birth or marriage and sharing a common name and often united by certain religious rites)
2. tribe; people, family
3. the chief gods
4. (biblical, Christianity, Judaism) gentile, Gentile

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Derived terms

• genticus
• gentil?cius
• gent?lis
• gent?lit?s
• ing?ns

Descendants

References

• gens in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• gens in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• gens in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• gens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• gens in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• gens in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• gens in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Norman

Etymology

From Old French gens, gent, from Latin g?ns, gentis.

Noun

gens m pl

1. (Guernsey, plural only) people

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin gens. Doublet of gente.

Noun

gens f (plural gens)

1. (Ancient Rome) gens (in Ancient Rome, a group of people descending from a common ancestor)

   Synonym: gente

Swedish

Noun

gens

1. indefinite genitive singular of gen