engender

Compared meaning: to cause something or someone to exist (verb).

比较义项：使某事物产生，或使人、动物诞生（动词）。

• generate

  The most general and neutral word; used for producing things through a process, mechanism, or activity — electricity, income, heat, ideas, jobs — without saying whether the result is concrete or abstract.

  语气最中性、最通用的词；用于通过某种过程、机制或活动产生事物——电力、收入、热量、想法、就业机会，不论结果是具体的还是抽象的。

  The new factory will generate hundreds of jobs in the area.

  这家新工厂将为该地区创造数百个就业机会。

• father

  Means specifically to become a child's biological father; used only of men and only for a person, never for objects, feelings, or animals; sounds formal or literary as a verb.

  特指成为某个孩子的生身父亲；只用于男性、只用于人，绝不用于事物、情感或动物；作动词使用时语气正式，带文学色彩。

  He fathered two sons before leaving the army.

  他在退伍之前生了两个儿子。

• engender 本词

  Formal and literary; used only for abstract feelings, attitudes or situations that arise from a cause — trust, resentment, confusion — never for physical objects, children or animals.

  正式且带书面色彩；只用于因某种原因而产生的抽象情感、态度或局面，如信任、怨恨、困惑，绝不用于实物、孩子或动物。

  Constant broken promises can engender deep distrust between colleagues.

  不断食言会在同事之间引发深深的不信任。

• sire

  Literal and biological; almost always describes a male animal fathering offspring in a breeding context, or, in old-fashioned literary use, a man fathering a child; never used for feelings or ideas.

  字面且属生物学意义上的用法；几乎总是指公畜在配种中使幼崽出生，或用于老式文学语体中指男子生育孩子；绝不用于情感或想法。

  The champion racehorse has sired more than fifty foals.

  这匹冠军赛马已经让五十多匹小马驹出生。

Generate, father, engender, and sire can mean to cause something or someone to exist. Generate is the most neutral, used for processes like electricity or ideas. Father and sire mean to become a child's or animal's biological parent. Engender is formal, used for abstract feelings.

这四个词都表示“使某事物产生或存在”，但语域和适用对象差别很大：generate与engender多用于抽象或过程性的结果，father与sire则专指使人或动物繁衍后代。这里不比较father作名词“父亲”及习语“founding father”的用法，也不比较sire作称呼君主的名词用法。