712: gentry, gentleman, genteel, and gentile, Nov 19, 2017

A word like the Latin, 'genus' explored more in the link below has given English an array of words relating to the human race and biology, but with so many of these words, it would have been unlikely for some of them not to have divergent meanings. 'Gentry' and 'gentleman' both related to rank, with the former referring to those born into nobility, and the latter denoting a man of good standing but not a nobleman. As time went on, other derivatives had less and less to do with the original meaning of 'genus'. The sense of 'well-born' or 'clan', also seen in 'gentile', later gave rise to the connotation with 'fashionable', and from the French, 'gentil', we got 'genteel' eventually becoming derogatory in the 1800's. For more on this topic click here.