To produce or create something, such as energy, ideas, or results.
From Latin *generare* meaning “to beget, produce,” from *genus* “race, kind.” It originally referred to bringing living things into existence. Later it broadened to cover producing anything, from electricity to computer outputs.
When you ‘generate’ electricity or ideas, you’re doing the same thing in spirit as generating children: bringing something new into the world. The root *gen-* hides in words about beginnings everywhere: *gene*, *genesis*, *generation*, *genius*.
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