ancestor
UK /ˈæn.sɛs.tə/ · US /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ noun, verb
Forms ancestors ancestoring ancestored ancestour auncestor auncestour
- noun One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear.
- noun An earlier type; a progenitor. “This fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.”
- noun (law) One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
- noun (figuratively) One who had the same role or function in former times.
- noun (linguistics) A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.
- verb (transitive) To be an ancestor of.
Synonyms
forebear fore-elder forefather predecessor reflex source origin antecedent ascendant ascendent forerunner progenitor root
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor (“one who goes before”); the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin antecessōrem, accusative of antecessor, from antecēdō (“to go before”) + -tor (“-er”), from ante- (“before”) + cēdō (“to go”). See cede, and compare with antecessor.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a fore father.
- noun An earlier type; a progenitor; as, this fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.
Etymology [OE. ancestre, auncestre, also ancessour; the first forms fr. OF. ancestre, F. ancêtre, fr. the L. nom. antessor one who goes before; the last form fr. OF. ancessor, fr. L. acc. antecessorem, fr. antecedere to go before; ante before + cedere to go. See Cede, and cf. Antecessor.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ancestor”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details