origin

English Online Dictionary. What means origin‎? What does origin mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English origine, origyne, from Old French origine, orine, ourine, from Latin origo (“beginning, source, birth, origin”), from orior (“to rise”); see orient. Doublet of origo.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/, /ˈɒɹ.ə.d͡ʒən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/, /ˈɔɹ.d͡ʒɪn/
• (New York City) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn/

Noun

origin (plural origins)

1. The beginning of something.
2. The source of a river, information, goods, etc.

   Synonym: source
3. (mathematics) The point at which the axes of a coordinate system intersect.

   Synonym: zero vector

4. (anatomy) The proximal end of attachment of a muscle to a bone that will not be moved by the action of that muscle.
5. (cartography) An arbitrary point on Earth's surface, chosen as the zero for a system of coordinates.
6. (in the plural) Ancestry.

Synonyms

• (beginning): See Thesaurus:beginning

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “beginning”): end
• (antonym(s) of “source”): destination
• (antonym(s) of “anatomy”): insertion

Derived terms

Related terms

• orient

Translations

See also

• provenance

Further reading

• “origin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “origin”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• nigori