ancestor
English · Thesaurus
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ancestor
- /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ US
- /ˈæn.sɛs.tə/ UK
Where it comes from
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.
noun ancestors · ancestour · auncestor · auncestour
-
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.
Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
Similar: forebear, fore-elder, forefather
- An earlier type; a progenitor. This fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.
- One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
-
One who had the same role or function in former times.
The Magpies are unbeaten and enjoying their best run since 1994, although few would have thought the class of 2011 would come close to emulating their ancestors.
Similar: predecessor
- A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.
Similar: ancestor, antecedent, ascendant, ascendent, forerunner, progenitor · Opposite: descendant, afterbear
verb ancestors · ancestoring · ancestored · ancestour · auncestor
- To be an ancestor of. Her own grandfather had been a Virginian, a descendant of Pocahontas, of course, Pocahontas having been created by Divine Providence for the specific purpose of ancestoring Virginians.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: antecedent, ascendent, ascendant, progenitor, ancestry, ancestral, kin, forebear, grandfather, ceremony, patrimonial, ascendancy, bottom-up, old-timer, influence, predecessor
noun
Similar: ancestor, antecedent, ascendant, ascendent, forerunner, progenitor · Opposite: descendant, afterbear
Translations
Every language
noun one from whom a person is descended
| Español | ancestro, antepasado |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 조상 josang, 선조 seonjo |
| 日本語 | 先祖 senzo, 祖先 sosen |
| 中文 | 祖先 zǔxiān |
| हिन्दी | पूर्वज pūrvaj |
| Kiswahili | mhenga |
| Português | ancestral, antepassado |
| Français | ancêtre |
| Deutsch | Vorfahr, Vorfahrin, Ahn, Ahne, Ahnin, Urahn |
| Italiano | antenato, ascendente, avo, abiatico, progenitore |
| Ελληνικά | πρόγονος prógonos, προπάτορας propátoras |
| Română | predecesor, strămoș, străbun |
| Русский | пре́док prédok, прароди́тель prarodítelʹ, пра́щур práščur, праоте́ц praotéc |
| Tiếng Việt | tổ tiên |
| العربية | سَلَف salaf |
noun an earlier type
| 한국어 | 전신 jeonsin, 원형 wonhyeong |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 祖先 sosen |
| हिन्दी | पूर्ववर्ती pūrvavartī |
| Português | ancestral |
| Deutsch | Vorläufer, Vorgänger |
| Ελληνικά | πρόγονος prógonos |
| Русский | предше́ственник predšéstvennik, пре́док prédok |
noun a word of origin
| 日本語 | 語源 gogen |
|---|
Talk about this word "ancestor." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ancestor. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ancestor. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ancestor "ancestor." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ancestor.Cite this
@misc{ancestor_2026,
title = {ancestor},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ancestor},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
