generation

Generation is a concept with several related meanings. It comes from Latin generare, to beget. In everyday use, generation denotes the act of producing offspring and the offspring born from that act, and more broadly the cohort of individuals born around the same time.

In biology, generation time is the average interval between the birth of a parent and the birth of its offspring. Generation also refers to a lineage or cohort, such that individuals in the same generation are roughly contemporaneous. The term is central to heredity and population genetics, where traits are traced across generations.

In social science, generation designates a group of people born within a particular span of years, typically about 20 to 30 years, who share similar cultural experiences. The idea of a generation underpins discussions of generational change and the generation gap.

In technology and industry, a generation marks a stage in development or a version of a product or system, such as 1G through 5G mobile networks or successive hardware and software generations. Each generation often provides new capabilities and standards.

In physics, the Standard Model recognizes three generations of fundamental fermions, divided into three families with increasing mass. The term generation also appears in computing, linguistics, and other fields to describe sequences produced by a process.