ancestral

American  

[an-ses-truhl] / ænˈsɛs trəl /

adjective

1. pertaining to ancestors; descending or claimed from ancestors.

   an ancestral home.

2. serving as a forerunner, prototype, or inspiration.

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ancestral British  

/ ænˈsɛstrəl /

adjective

1. of, inherited from, or derived from ancestors

   his ancestral home

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noun

1. logic a relation that holds between x and y if there is a chain of instances of a given relation leading from x to y. Thus the ancestral of parent of is ancestor of, since x is the ancestor of y if and only if x is a parent of…a parent of…a parent of y

Other Word Forms

• ancestrally adverb
• nonancestral adjective
• nonancestrally adverb
• pseudoancestral adjective
• pseudoancestrally adverb

Etymology

Origin of ancestral

1425–75; late Middle English aunce ( s ) trel < Middle French, equivalent to ancestre ancestor + -el -al ¹

Example Sentences

To his relief, his parents gave up too and, together with the Adjoyis, decided to move to Tovime, their ancestral home.

From Literature

Countries such as Benin and Sierra Leone also offer citizenship to people of African descent based on verified ancestral ties.

From BBC

Our dogs should be eating “real” food, they say, ideally raw meat—an “ancestral diet” that awakens their inner wolf.

From The Wall Street Journal

For centuries, cats and Istanbul's residents have been very close, an ancestral culture that remains even today.

From Barron's

These days, Greenlanders are shocked by how few words their brethren can speak in their ancestral tongue—and by the poverty of Native Americans in Alaska.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• familial
• tribal