origin

UK: /ˈɒrɪdʒɪn/ US: /ˈɔrɪdʒɪn, ˈɑr-/ ,(ôr′i jin, or′-)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

or•i•gin /ˈɔrɪdʒɪn, ˈɑr-/   n. 

1. [countable* usually: singular] a source from which anything arises or comes.
2. the first years or stage of existence:
   [countable* often: plural] a woman of mysterious origins.
3. descent:
   [uncountable] was clearly of Scandinavian origin.

See -ori-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

or•i•gin  (ôr′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. Anatomy
   • the point of derivation.
   • the more fixed portion of a muscle.
6. Mathematics
   • the point in a Cartesian coordinate system where the axes intersect.
   • Also called pole. the point from which rays designating specific angles originate in a polar coordinate system with no axes.

• Latin orīgin- (stem of orīgō) beginning, source, lineage, derivative of orīrī to rise; compare orient
• Middle English 1350–1400

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• 1. destination, end.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

origin / ˈɒrɪdʒɪn/ noun

1. a primary source; derivation
2. the beginning of something; first stage or part
3. (often plural) ancestry or parentage; birth; extraction
4. the end of a muscle, opposite its point of insertion
5. the beginning of a nerve or blood vessel or the site where it first starts to branch out
6. the point of intersection of coordinate axes or planes
7. the point whose coordinates are all zero
8. the country from which a commodity or product originates: shipment from origin

Etymology: 16th Century: from French origine, from Latin orīgō beginning, birth, from orīrī to rise, spring from