The place where something begins, where it springs into being:
— Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River.

synonyms: beginning, origin, root, rootage.

Roget 66: beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation^†; introduction etc. (precursor) 64; alpha, initial; inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation [Fr.], rising of the curtain; maiden speech; outbreak, onset, brunt; initiative, move, first move; narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge; fresh start, new departure.    origin etc. (cause) 153; source, rise; bud, germ etc. 153; egg, rudiment; genesis, primogenesis^†, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy; start, inception, creation, starting point etc. 293; dawn etc. (morning) 125; evolution.    title-page; head, heading; van etc. (front) 234; caption, fatihah^†.    entrance, entry; inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon^†, door; gate, gateway; postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule; propylaeum^†; skirts, border etc. (edge) 231.    first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight.    rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC.    ... show more

Roget 153: cause, origin, source, principle, element; occasioner^†, prime mover, primum mobile [Lat.]; vera causa [Lat.]; author etc. (producer) 164; mainspring; agent; leaven; groundwork, foundation etc. (support) 215.    spring, fountain, well, font; fountainhead, spring head, wellhead; fons et origo [Lat.], genesis; descent etc. (paternity) 166; remote cause; influence.    pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum; key; proximate cause, causa causans [Lat.]; straw that breaks the camel's back.    ground; reason, reason why; why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation; final cause etc. (intention) 620; les dessous des cartes [Fr.]; undercurrents.    rudiment.    egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule^†, radicle, semen, sperm.    nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed.    causality, causation; origination; production etc. 161.    ... show more

Dutch: bron, begin, kiem, oerbron, oorsprong, origine, wortel
Polish: początek

A document (or organization) from which information is obtained.

Dutch: bron, informatiebron

Anything that provides inspiration for later work.

synonyms: germ, seed.

Dutch: inspiratiebron

A facility where something is available.

A person who supplies information.

synonym: informant.

Dutch: informant, zegsman
Polish: informator

Someone who originates or causes or initiates something.

synonyms: author, generator.

technology A process by which energy or a substance enters a system.

Anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies.

synonym: reservoir.

A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to:
— He spent hours looking for the source of that quotation.

synonym: reference.

Get (a product) from another country or business.

Specify the origin of.