From genos (offspring, kind), meaning to beget (of the father), to give birth (of the mother), or to produce/bring forth. It is used for physical birth, spiritual rebirth (being 'born again'), and the eternal generation of the Son from the Father. Matthew's genealogy uses it repeatedly: 'Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob…'
This verb carries enormous christological and soteriological weight. The Nicene Creed confesses that the Son is 'begotten, not made' — gennēthenta from gennaō — affirming the Son's eternal divine origin. At Jesus' baptism, the Father declares, 'Thou art my beloved Son; this day have I begotten thee' (a reading reflected in some manuscripts of Luke 3:22, quoting Ps 2:7). For salvation, Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be 'born again' (gennēthē anōthen) to see the kingdom (John 3:3). John's first epistle uses gennaō repeatedly for believers 'born of God' (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18), establishing that the Christian life is not self-improvement but a new birth from divine origin.