Definition of 'origin'
Word forms: plural origins
2. countable noun [usually poss NOUN, oft of/in N]
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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origin in British English
noun
1.
4. anatomy
5. mathematics
a.
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word origin
C16: from French origine, from Latin orīgō beginning, birth, from orīrī to rise, spring from
Word Frequency
origin in American English
noun
SYNONYMY NOTE: origin is applied to that from which a person or thing has its very beginning [the origin of a word]; source is applied to the point or place from which something arises, comes, or develops
[the sun is our source of energy]; beginning is the basic term for a starting point or place [the beginning of a quarrel]; inception is specif. applied to the beginning of an undertaking, organization, etc. [Smith headed the business from its inception]; root1 suggests an origin so deep and basic as to be the ultimate cause from which something
stems [the root of the matter]2.
parentage; birth; lineage
3.
that in which something has its beginning; source; root; cause
4. Anatomy
the less movable of the two points of attachment of a muscle, usually the end attached to the more rigid part of the skeleton
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word Frequency
origin in American English
(ˈɔrɪdʒɪn, ˈɑr-)
noun
SYNONYMS 1. root, foundation. 4. birth, lineage, descent.ANTONYMS 1. destination, end.1.
to follow a stream to its origin
3.
the first stage of existence; beginning
the origin of Quakerism in America
4.
ancestry; parentage; extraction
to be of Scottish origin
6. Math
a.
the point in a Cartesian coordinate system where the axes intersect
b. Also called: pole
the point from which rays designating specific angles originate in a polar coordinate system with no axes
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1350–1400; ME ‹ L orīgin- (s. of orīgō) beginning, source, lineage, deriv. of orīrī to rise; cf. orient]Examples of 'origin' in a sentence
origin
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In other languages
origin
British English: origin
/ˈɒrɪdʒɪn/ NOUN
You can refer to the beginning, cause, or source of something as its origin or its origins.
Scientists study the origin of life on Earth.
- American English: origin /ˈɔrɪdʒɪn/
- Arabic: أصْلٌ source
- Brazilian Portuguese: origem
- Chinese: 起源
- Croatian: porijeklo
- Czech: původ
- Danish: oprindelse
- Dutch: oorsprong
- European Spanish: origen
- Finnish: alkuperä
- French: origine
- German: Ursprung
- Greek: προέλευση
- Italian: origine
- Japanese: 起源
- Korean: 근원
- Norwegian: opprinnelse
- Polish: zaczątek
- European Portuguese: origem
- Romanian: origine
- Russian: происхождение
- Latin American Spanish: origen
- Swedish: ursprung
- Thai: จุดกำเนิด
- Turkish: kaynak çıkış noktası
- Ukrainian: походження
- Vietnamese: nguồn gốc
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Definition of origin from the Collins English Dictionary
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