ancestor

Meaning

1. 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.
2. An earlier type; a progenitor
3. One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
4. One who had the same role or function in former times.
5. A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.

forefather

progenitor

male ancestor

father’s father

old person

previous existence

previous position

predecessor organization

predecessor organisation

inheritee

fore-runner

fore father

first ancestor

ancester

Frequency

Hyphenated as

an‧ces‧tor

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/

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.

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