ancestor

ancestor — noun

1. someone in the generations before your grandparents, from whom your family line

1.nounB2
Definition

someone in the generations before your grandparents, from whom your family line comes.

Example

Mina found an ancestor's name in a church record from 1784.

ancestor's + noun

Our ancestors came to Taiwan by boat more than two centuries ago.

ancestors in family-origin stories

Common collocations
  • a distant ancestor
  • a direct ancestor
  • trace your ancestors
  • honour your ancestors
Synonyms
  • forebear

    close in meaning but more formal, especially in historical writing

  • forefather

    often male-specific or used for founders of a people or tradition

  • progenitor

    more formal and technical; common in biological or scholarly contexts

Antonyms
  • descendant

    someone who comes later in the same family line

Grammar Patterns

an ancestor of + person/family

your ancestors

Usage Note

Often used in the plural when people speak about family origins, customs, or people from long ago. Distinguish from sense 2, where the word names an earlier species, form, or machine rather than a person.

Common Mistakes

We are ancestors of the king.
We are descendants of the king.
if your family comes from an earlier person, you are that person's descendants, not ancestors.
My grandfather is one of my ancestors, so I wrote about an ancestor from 1975.
My grandfather is my grandfather; I wrote about an ancestor from the 1700s.
'ancestor' usually points to a much earlier family member when the exact relation is not named.

2. a living thing, species, machine, or other thing from an earlier time that later

2.nounC1
Definition

a living thing, species, machine, or other thing from an earlier time that later ones developed from or were based on.

Example

Scientists believe this small dinosaur was an ancestor of modern birds.

ancestor of + modern species

That camera was an ancestor of the smartphones we use today.

ancestor of + later device

Common collocations
  • a common ancestor
  • an ancestor of modern birds
  • a human ancestor
  • an ancestor species
Synonyms
  • forerunner

    emphasizes coming earlier and leading to what followed

  • predecessor

    general word for an earlier form, stage, or holder of a role

  • prototype

    best for an early model of a machine or device, not a species

  • progenitor

    formal word often used in biology for the original source of a line

Antonyms
  • descendant

    a later species or form that develops from an earlier one

  • successor

    a later machine, form, or stage that replaces an earlier one

Grammar Patterns

an ancestor of + modern species/object

a common ancestor

Usage Note

Common in biology, evolution, and the history of technology, usually with 'ancestor of'. Distinguish from sense 1, which refers to a person in a family line.

Common Mistakes

The smartphone is an ancestor of the old telephone.
The old telephone is an ancestor of the smartphone.
the ancestor is the earlier form, not the later one.
Modern birds are ancestors of some dinosaurs.
Some dinosaurs were ancestors of modern birds.
the word points backward in time to what came first.

Word family

  • ancestry
    nounC1
  • ancestral
    adjectiveC1
  • ancestrally
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Ancestor' is the broad, normal word for someone in the family line from earlier generations. 'Forebear' is close in meaning but sounds more formal and often appears in writing about history, identity, or tradition. 'Forefather' is narrower: it usually points to male ancestors or to founders of a nation, group, or belief, so it can sound old-fashioned in everyday family talk. 'Progenitor' is the most formal of the four and often appears in biology or scholarly writing for the original source of a line. In normal use, 'ancestor' is the safest choice: 'Her ancestor came from Fujian in the 1700s.' In a history book, you may read 'the tribe's forebears' or 'the nation's forefathers'.

ancestor ↗forebearforefatherprogenitor

Common collocations

Nouns

  • common ancestor
  • direct ancestor

Phrases

  • be an ancestor of
  • share a common ancestor

Prepositions

  • ancestor of

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

'Ancestor' entered English in the Middle English period from Old French 'ancestre'. That French form goes back to Latin 'antecessor', which literally meant 'one who goes before'. The earliest use was for a person in the generations before you. Later, English widened the idea and also used the word for an earlier species, form, or machine from which a later one developed.