Definition of 'ancestor'
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
ancestor in British English
noun
1. (often plural)
a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather
2.
3.
a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing
the ancestor of the modern camera
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
ancestress (ˈancestress) feminine noun
Word origin
C13: from Old French ancestre, from Late Latin antecēssor one who goes before, from Latin antecēdere; see antecedeWord Frequency
ancestor in American English
noun
1.
any person from whom one is descended, esp. one earlier in a family line than a grandparent;
forefather; forebear
2.
an early type of animal from which later kinds have evolved
3.
anything regarded as a precursor or forerunner of a later thing
verb transitive
5.
to be an ancestor of
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME & OFr ancestre < L antecessor, one who goes before < pp. of antecedere < ante-, before + cedere, to go
Word Frequency
ancestor in American English
(ˈænsestər, esp Brit -səstər)
noun
1.
a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor
2. Biology
3.
an object, idea, style, or occurrence serving as a prototype, forerunner, or inspiration to a later one
The balloon is an ancestor of the modern dirigible
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1250–1300; ME ancestre ‹ OF (with t developed between s and r) ‹ L antecessor antecessor]Examples of 'ancestor' in a sentence
ancestor
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In other languages
ancestor
British English: ancestor
/ˈænsɛstə/ NOUN
Your ancestors are the people from whom you are descended.
...our daily lives, so different from those of our ancestors.
- American English: ancestor /ˈænsɛstər/
- Arabic: سَلَف
- Brazilian Portuguese: antepassado
- Chinese: 祖先
- Croatian: predak
- Czech: předek
- Danish: forfader
- Dutch: voorouder
- European Spanish: antepasado
- Finnish: esi-isä
- French: ancêtre
- German: Vorfahre
- Greek: πρόγονος
- Italian: antenato
- Japanese: 先祖
- Korean: 조상
- Norwegian: stamfar
- Polish: przodek
- European Portuguese: antepassado
- Romanian: strămoș
- Russian: предок
- Latin American Spanish: antepasado
- Swedish: förfader
- Thai: บรรพบุรุษ
- Turkish: ata
- Ukrainian: предок
- Vietnamese: tổ tiên
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ancestor
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Definition of ancestor from the Collins English Dictionary
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