ancestor

American  

[an-ses-ter, -suh-ster] / ˈæn sɛs tər, -sə stər /

noun

• ancestors
  plural

1. a person from whom one is descended; forebear; progenitor.

2. Biology. the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.

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.

4. a person who serves as an influence or model for another; one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed.

   a philosophical ancestor.

5. Law. a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.

---

ancestor British  

/ ˈænsɛstə /

noun

1. (often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather

2. an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved

3. a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing

   the ancestor of the modern camera

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ancestress
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ancestors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ancestor

1250–1300; Middle English ancestre < Old French (with t developed between s and r ) < Latin antecessor antecessor

Explanation

An ancestor came before. Your grandmother's grandmother and any relative before her is one of your ancestors. Ante-, a common Latin prefix, means "before." Cedere is Latin for "to go." So, an ancestor is someone who has gone before us. Evolutionary biologists have advanced the theory that all life on earth descends from a common ancestor. Ancestor can also mean "prototype" or "forerunner." The abacus is a distant ancestor of today's supercomputers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ancestor ancestors

One of the unknown groups, described by the researchers as a ghost ancestor, interbred with modern humans in Africa more than 50,000 years ago.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

The researchers also detected genetic material from an even more ancient population, which they call a super-archaic ancestor.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

The researchers say the use of touch to build trust and cooperation may date back at least seven million years, before humans, chimpanzees and bonobos split from a common ancestor.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Eight of out 10 of Sumba's population of 685,000 people are Christian, but its older "marapu" belief system, that blends animism and ancestor worship, has deep roots.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

I still don’t really know who the woman in black is—if she’s my guardian angel, if she’s an ancestor from my past or my future—but I know that she’ll always be with me.

From "Hurricane Child" by Kheryn Callender

"But as it is coming for those who came before me, our elders and ancestors, we know how to roll up our sleeves and fight. So that's what we're gonna do."

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

My mother’s ancestors and my father’s boyhood and Sappho’s fragments and the sea that raised me are all still there, waiting, under a sky the color of alarm.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

For our early ancestors, body fat was a lifeline: too little could mean starvation, too much could slow you down.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

“Whoops! I know I should not say Ashton Place is wretched, for that is disrespectful to Fredrick, not to mention his poor ancestors, all of whom died such gruesome deaths—but you know what I mean.”

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• forebear
• forefather
• founder