ORIGIN


Meaning of ORIGIN in English

/awr"i jin, or"-/ , n.

1. something from which anything arises or is derived; source; fountainhead: to follow a stream to its origin.

2. rise or derivation from a particular source: the origin of a word.

3. the first stage of existence; beginning: the origin of Quakerism in America.

4. ancestry; parentage; extraction: to be of Scottish origin.

5. Anat.

a. the point of derivation.

b. the more fixed portion of a muscle.

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.

[ 1350-1400; ME origin- (s. of origo ) beginning, source, lineage, deriv. of oriri to rise; cf. ORIENT ]

Syn. 1. root, foundation. 4. birth, lineage, descent.

Ant. 1. destination, end.

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .