family tree

American  

noun

1. a genealogical chart showing the ancestry, descent, and relationship of all members of a family or other genealogical group.

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family tree British  

noun

1. Also called: genealogical tree.  a chart showing the genealogical relationships and lines of descent of a family

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Etymology

Origin of family tree

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

The result was a model of human evolution that replaces a clean family tree with something more like a network of deeply connected branches.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026

Rather than neatly settling the debate, the result showed that snake origins were likely complex, with different branches of the snake family tree preserving different clues about how body shape, habitat, and feeding style evolved.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2026

From there, investigators can sometimes find distant relatives to help piece together a family tree that can point to a suspect, said CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist and co-founder of DNA Justice.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026

A family tree hangs in the boardroom and some of the company’s oldest weapons, including a musket from 1830, are displayed in an archive of more than 1,500 pieces.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

“You should give Cousin Lucretia a ring. She’s already completed our family tree all the way back to the 1800s. Shoot...most of our family ain’t even from here.”

From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson