ETYM French origine, Latin origo, -iginis, from oriri to rise, become visible; akin to Greek ornynai to stir up, rouse, Skr. or, and perh. to Eng. run.
1. An event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events; SYN. origination, genesis, inception.
2. Properties attributable to one's ancestry; SYN. descent, extraction.
3. The point of intersection of coordinate axes; where the values of the coordinates are all zero.
In mathematics, the point where the x axis meets the y axis. The coordinates of the origin are (0,0).