From French, from Latin 'genus' (birth, kind), from PIE *ǵenh₁- — kin to 'gene,' 'genesis,' 'gender,' 'genius,' and English 'kin.'
A category or class of artistic composition characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.
Borrowed from French 'genre' meaning 'kind, sort, style,' from Old French 'gendre,' from Latin 'genus' (birth, origin, kind, race), from the PIE root *ǵenh₁- meaning 'to beget, to give birth.' The same PIE root produced an enormous family of English words including 'gender,' 'generate,' 'gene,' 'genesis,' 'genius,' 'gentle,' and 'kin.' The word entered English specifically in the context of painting to describe scenes of everyday life
The phrase 'genre painting' originally referred specifically to scenes of ordinary life — peasants eating, markets, domestic interiors — as opposed to the 'higher' genres of history and mythology. The word's meaning broadened so thoroughly that today every category of art, music, film, and literature is called a genre, making the once-humble term universal.