origin
nouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈɒɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn//
- United Kingdom//ˈɒɹ.ə.d͡ʒən//
- Canada//ˈoɹ.ɪ.d͡ʒɪn//
- Canada//ˈoɹ.ə.d͡ʒɪn//
- Canada/[ˈoɹ.d͡ʒɪn]/
The beginning of something.
noun
- 1
The beginning of something.
place of origin
trace the origin of something
unknown origin
The custom has its origin in ancient Greece.
- 2
The source of a river, information, goods, etc.
Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
- 3
The point at which the axes of a coordinate system intersect.
- 4
The proximal end of attachment of a muscle to a bone that will not be moved by the action of that muscle.
- 5
An arbitrary point on Earth's surface, chosen as the zero for a system of coordinates.
- 6
Ancestry.
Etymology
From Middle English origine, origyne, from Old French origine, orine, ourine, from Latin orīgō (“beginning, source, birth, origin”), from orior (“to rise”); see orient. Doublet of origo.
Forms
- plural
- origins