What does genera mean?
Genera is the plural form of genus, a word best known from biological classification. A genus groups one or more closely related species, and several such groups can be discussed together as genera. Taxonomists use the term precisely: a genus sits above species and below family in the principal ranks of classification. Outside biology, genera can be used more broadly for kinds, classes, or categories, though this usage is less common and more formal. The plural is irregular in English: genus becomes genera rather than genuses, although genuses is also accepted. Recognising both the singular-plural relationship and the scientific rank makes genera easier to use correctly. It is also a revealing word because its unusual ending reflects the history of Latin taxonomy, where a singular noun in -us took a plural in -a.
nounThe plural of genus: in biology, a taxonomic group containing one or more related species, ranked above species and below family. More broadly, genera can mean distinct kinds, classes, or categories.
- The plural of genus in biological taxonomy, referring to a group containing one or more related species.
- Less commonly, distinct kinds, classes, or categories of things.
"The museum's collection includes several genera of tropical plants."
"Botanists identified three new genera of flowering plants during the survey."
"The study distinguishes two broad genera of persuasion within classical rhetoric."
Genera is already the plural of genus and refers to two or more such groups or categories.
"The samples belong to two different genera."
One genus becomes many genera: the plural that gave taxonomy its famous linguistic plot twist.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of genera
Genera is the Latin plural of genus, meaning “kind,” “sort,” or “origin.” The biological sense developed through the Latin taxonomic tradition and was established in English as a rank above species and below family. The same Latin root underlies generate, generic, and generous, while genesis is a Greek cognate associated with the shared sense of birth or origin.
How genera is actually used
Genera is the standard plural of genus; genuses is also accepted but is less usual. In biological writing, a genus name is conventionally capitalized and italicized, while the plural genera is also italicized.
Easily confused with genera
Genus is the singular form; genera is its plural and refers to two or more taxonomic groups.