"beget, generate, engender (children)," 1530s, a back-formation from procreation or else from Latin procreatus, past participle of procreare "bring forth" (offspring), "beget, generate, produce," from pro "forth" (see pro-) + creare "create" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). Related: Procreated; procreating.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to grow."
It forms all or part of: accretion; accrue; cereal; Ceres; concrete; create; creation; creature; Creole; crescendo; crescent; crew (n.) "group of soldiers;" croissant; cru; decrease; Dioscuri; excrescence; excrescent; griot; increase; Kore; procerity; procreate; procreation; recreate; recreation; recruit; sincere.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek kouros "boy," korē "girl;" Latin crescere "come forth, spring up, grow, thrive, swell," Ceres, goddess of agriculture, creare "to bring forth, create, produce;" Armenian serem "bring forth," serim "be born."
"beget, procreate, be the sire of," 1610s, from sire (n.). Used chiefly of beasts, especially of stallions. Related: Sired; siring.
1610s, transitive, "to bring into existence again," from re- "again" + produce (v.), probably on model of French reproduire (16c.). Sense of "make a copy or representation of" is recorded by 1850. The intransitive sense of "generate offspring, procreate" is by 1894. Related: Reproduced; reproducing.
"to bring into being," early 15c., from Latin creatus, past participle of creare "to make, bring forth, produce, procreate, beget, cause," related to Ceres and to crescere "arise, be born, increase, grow," from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow." De Vaan writes that the original meaning of creare "was 'to make grow', which can still be found in older texts ...." Related: Created; creating.
Middle English biyeten, from Old English begietan (West Saxon), bigetan, bigeotan (Anglian) "to get by effort, find, acquire, attain, seize" (class V strong verb, past tense begeat, past participle begeaton), from be- + get (v.). The sense of "to procreate" is from c. 1200, generally used of the father only. Similar formation in Old Saxon bigitan, Old High German pigezzan, Gothic bigitan "to get, obtain." Related: Begot; begotten.
early 14c., "beget, procreate," from Old French engendrer (12c.) "give birth to, beget, bear; cause, bring about," from Latin ingenerare "to implant, engender, produce," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + generare "bring forth, beget, produce," from genus "race, kind" (from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups). With euphonious -d- in French. Also from early 14c. engendered was used in a theological sense, with reference to Jesus, "derived (from God)." Meaning "cause, produce" is mid-14c. Related: Engendering.
Old English bredan "bring (young) to birth, procreate," also "cherish, keep warm," from West Germanic *brodjan (source also of Old High German bruoten, German brüten "to brood, hatch"), from *brod- "fetus, hatchling," from PIE root *bhreu- "to boil, bubble, effervesce, burn." The etymological notion is incubation, warming to hatch.
The intransitive sense "come into being" is from c. 1200; that of "beget or bear offspring" is from mid-13c. Of livestock, etc., "procure by the mating of parents and rear for use," mid-14c. The sense of "grow up, be reared" (in a clan, etc.) is late 14c.; the meaning "form by education" is from mid-15c. Related: Bred; breeding.
