ancestor

Meanings

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.
• An earlier type; a progenitor
• One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
• One who had the same role or function in former times.
• A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.

Verb

• To be an ancestor of.

Related

Similar words

• forebear, fore-elder, forefather
• predecessor
• reflex, source, origin

Opposite words

• descendant
• afterbear

Origin

• 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 accusative antecessorem, from antecedo; ante + cedo. See cede, and compare with antecessor.