GEN
Abbreviation with 4 meanings
| Stands for | General (US Army) |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 4 |
| Categories | Military, Religion, Texting & Internet Slang, Writing & Everyday |
| Also written | /gen, Gen, Gen., gen. |
GEN has four meanings. The most common are General (US Army) (US Army rank) and Genesis (Bible book); it can also stand for Genuine (tone indicator) and Genitive.
Meanings of GEN at a glance
| # | GEN stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General (US Army) | Military › US Army Rank |
| 2 | Genesis | Religion › Bible Book |
| 3 | Genuine (tone indicator) | Texting & Internet Slang › Social Media |
| 4 | Genitive | Writing & Everyday › Grammar and Dictionary |
1. General (US Army)
Military · US Army Rank Abbreviations
Highest active Army rank, pay grade O-10, worn as four silver stars. Four-star Army generals include the chief of staff of the Army and vice chief, commanders of the largest Army commands, and officers leading combatant commands or serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Example: GEN Wallace testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Army readiness.
Army style writes GEN; the Air Force, Space Force and Marine Corps write Gen, and AP style Gen. "General" is also the spoken form of address for any general officer from one to four stars. Four-star positions are limited by law, and holders keep the grade only while assigned to a qualifying position.
2. Genesis (Gen.)
Religion · Bible Book Abbreviations
Opening book of the Bible and of the Torah, 50 chapters long, covering creation, Adam and Eve, Noah's flood, the Tower of Babel and the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Its first verse reads "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Example: The sermon text was Gen. 1:1–5, the first day of creation.
SBL writes Gen without a period, Chicago's traditional list uses Gen., and Catholic Bibles and Chicago's short forms use Gn. Jewish tradition calls the book Bereshit ("in the beginning"), from its first Hebrew word. Authorship is traditionally attributed to Moses, while most modern scholars see it as compiled from several sources.
3. Genuine (tone indicator) (/gen)
Texting & Internet Slang · Social Media Abbreviations
Tone tag signaling that a question or statement is genuine rather than sarcastic, rhetorical or passive-aggressive. Often attached to questions that could otherwise sound like criticism.
Example: Wait, how do you actually make cold brew at home? /gen
Particularly helpful when a question such as "why would you do that?" could be read as judgment. Also written /g. Part of the tone-indicator system that spread on Tumblr and Twitter around 2020, and common in neurodivergent and fandom spaces.
4. Genitive (gen.)
Writing & Everyday · Grammar and Dictionary Abbreviations
Labels the genitive case, which expresses possession or relationship, roughly "of" in English. Latin dictionaries list each noun with its genitive singular, and the English possessive -'s descends from an Old English genitive ending.
Example: Latin rex, regis (gen.) "king," the stem behind English regal and regicide
The genitive singular reveals a Latin noun's stem, which is why dictionaries list it: rex, regis shows the stem reg-. Traditional star names use the Latin genitive of the constellation, as in Alpha Centauri. As a title or Bible book, Gen. means General or Genesis.
Related abbreviations
More US Army rank abbreviations
- CW3 – Chief Warrant Officer 3
- CW4 – Chief Warrant Officer 4
- CW5 – Chief Warrant Officer 5
- GA – General of the Army
- LT – Lieutenant (US Navy and Coast Guard)
- LTC – Lieutenant Colonel (US Army)
- LTG – Lieutenant General (US Army)
- MAJ – Major (US Army)
See all 34 US Army rank abbreviations →