originnoun
uk/ˈɒr.ɪ.dʒɪn/us/ˈɔːr.ə.dʒɪn/B2 [ C ] also origins the beginning or cause of something:
It's a book about the origin of the universe.
Her unhappy childhood was the origin of her problems later in life.
What's the origin of this saying? (= Where did it come from?)
origins [ plural ]
used to describe the particular way in which something started to exist or someone started their life:
The story has obscure origins (= no one knows how it started).
The president's family was of humble origins (= they were poor people without a good position in society).
C1 [ U ] where a person was born:
He is of North African origin.
What is your country of origin?
B2 [ U ] where an object was made:
The furniture was French in origin.
More examples
- This book finally explodes some of the myths about the origin of the universe.
- We must contextualize the problem before we can understand its origin.
- We begin our dip into local history by examining the town's origins.
- The Easter egg has both pagan and Christian origins.
- The refugees were deported back to their country of origin.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Origins and sources
- be a recipe for disaster, trouble, success, etc. idiom
- beginning
- birthplace
- born
- breeding ground
- come from somewhere/sth
- emanate from/through sth/sb
- fount
- genesis
- hail from somewhere
- issue
- issue from sth
- root
- seed
- son
- source
- stem
- stem from sth
- the cradle of sth idiom
- ur-
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[ C ] specialized medical the end of a muscle attached to the bone that does not move when the muscle is used
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Substances & structures in the body
- abductor
- accessorius
- adductor
- agonist
- alveolus
- amyloid
- atheroma
- caecum
- grey matter
- gyrus
- hallucis
- hilum
- hilus
- lymph vessel
- periosteum
- peritoneal
- peritoneum
- phosphatase
- platysma
- vitreous humour
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