English [ edit ]
Alternative forms [ edit ]
Etymology [ edit ]
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 (“ to go before ” ); ante (“ before ” ) + cedo (“ to go ” ). See cede , and compare with antecessor .
Pronunciation [ edit ]
( US ) IPA (key ) : /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ , /ˈæn.sɛs.toɹ/
ancestor (plural ancestors )
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 .
2013 July 20, “Old soldiers? ”, The Economist , volume 408, number 8845:
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.
An earlier type; a progenitor
This fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.
( law ) One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
( figuratively ) One who had the same role or function in former times.
2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1-2 Newcastle ”, BBC Sport :
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 .
Usage notes [ edit ]
Derived terms [ edit ]
Translations [ edit ]
one from whom a person is descended
Arabic: سَلَف m (salaf )
Armenian: նախնի (naxni ), նախահայր (naxahayr )
Belarusian: про́дак m (pródak )
Bulgarian: прароди́тел (bg) m (prarodítel ), праоте́ц (bg) m (praotéc )
Catalan: avantpassat (ca) m
Chamicuro: ka'nil sheye
Chinese:
Mandarin: 祖先 (zh) (zǔxiān )
Cantonese: 祖先 (jou2 sin1 )
Crimean Tatar: ecdat
Czech: předek (cs) m
Dutch: voorouder (nl) m
Esperanto: praulo
Estonian: esivanem
Ewe: tɔgbui m
Faroese: forfaðir m
Finnish: esi-isä (fi) , esivanhemmat pl
French: ancêtre (fr)
Georgian: წინაპარი (c̣inaṗari )
German: Vorfahr (de) m , Vorfahrin f , Ahn (de) m , Ahne (de) m , Ahne (de) f , Ahnin (de) f , Urahn (de) m , Urahne (de) m , Urahne (de) f , Stammvater (de) m , Stammmutter f
Greek: πρόγονος (el) m (prógonos ), προπάτορας (el) m (propátoras )
Hungarian: ős (hu) , előd (hu) , felmenő (hu)
Ido: ancestro (io)
Indonesian: leluhur (id)
Irish: sinsear m , sinsearach m
Italian: ascendente (it) , antenato (it) , avo (it) m , abiatico (it) m
Japanese: 先祖 (せんぞ, senzo ), 祖先 (ja) (ぞせん, sosen )
Maore Comorian: mudzaɗe class 1 /2 (mudzade )
Norman: anchêtre m , f
Korean: 조상 (ko) (josang ) (祖上 (ko) )
Kurdish:
Sorani: با وباپیر (ba u bapír )
Latin: progenitor m , progenitrix f , avus (la) m , ava f
Latvian: sencis m , sence f
Macedonian: предок m (predok )
Malay: nenek moyang , leluhur
Norwegian:
Bokmål: forfader (no) m
Nynorsk: forfar m , ( old ) forfader m
Novial: ansestre
Polish: przodek (pl) m
Portuguese: ancestral (pt) m , f
Romanian: strămoș (ro) m
Russian: пре́док (ru) (prédok ), прароди́тель (ru) m (prarodítelʹ ), пра́щур (ru) m (práščur ), праоте́ц (ru) m (praotéc )
Scottish Gaelic: sinnsear m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: предак m , праотац m , претка f , предкиња f , прамајка f , прародитељ m
Roman: predak (sh) m , praotac (sh) m , pretka (sh) f , predkinja f , pramajka (sh) f , praroditelj (sh) m
Sinhalese: මුතුන් මිත්තෝ (mutun mittō )
Slovak: predok m
Slovene: prédnik (sl) m anim , prédnica f
Spanish: ancestro (es) m , antepasado (es)
Swedish: förfader (sv) c
Tok Pisin: tambaran , tumbuna
Turkish: ata (tr)
Ukrainian: пре́док (uk) m (prédok )
Vietnamese: tổ tiên (vi) (祖先 )
Volapük: ( ♂♀ ) büröletan (vo) , ( ♂ ) hibüröletan (vo) , ( ♀ ) jibüröletan (vo)
Synonyms [ edit ]
Antonyms [ edit ]
Anagrams [ edit ]