pedigree
[ped-i-gree]
- an ancestral line; line of descent; lineage; ancestry.
- a genealogical table, chart, list, or record, especially of a purebred animal.
- distinguished, excellent, or pure ancestry.
- derivation, origin, or history: the pedigree of a word.
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Origin of pedigree
1375–1425; late Middle English pedegru < Anglo-French, equivalent to Middle French pie de grue literally, foot of crane, a fanciful way of describing the appearance of the lines of a genealogical chart
Synonyms
See more synonyms for pedigree on Thesaurus.com2. Pedigree, genealogy refer to an account of ancestry. A pedigree is a table or chart recording a line of ancestors, either of persons or (more especially) of animals, as horses, cattle, and dogs; in the case of animals, such a table is used as proof of superior qualities: a detailed pedigree. A genealogy is an account of the descent of a person or family traced through a series of generations, usually from the first known ancestor: a genealogy that includes a king.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pedigree
Contemporary Examples
The last play with this pedigree was Matilda, still going strong a year and a half later.
Fall Broadway Preview: 'This Is Our Youth,' Bradley Cooper as ‘The Elephant Man,' and MoreJanice Kaplan
September 11, 2014
His pedigree is top-notch, but his political experience still green.
Figure Skater Michelle Kwan Chases Gold in Rhode Island’s Gubernatorial RaceNicholas McCarvel
April 17, 2014
Unlike hoity-toity displays of pedigree fluff, the Average Joe Cat Show is a celebration of middling felines.
In his early career, Xi also had worked for a former defense minister, and his pedigree gives him close ties to the brass.
Name: David Siegel Age: 78 Pedigree: Founder of Westgate, a large time-share business.
Historical Examples
I remember such a one in Picardy, with a name as long as a Gascon's pedigree.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
Otherwise why the pedigree, why the rigid castes, the isolation of women?
City of Endless NightMilo Hastings
They boast of their master's pedigree and descent, as if they were related to him.
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
On his father's side a pedigree of three generations can be traced.
Concerning CatsHelen M. Winslow
He had too profound a respect for his own pedigree to lay his sins at his great-grandfather's door.
Audrey CravenMay Sinclair
pedigree
- the line of descent of a purebred animal
- (as modifier)a pedigree bull
- a document recording this
- a genealogical table, esp one indicating pure ancestry
- derivation or backgroundthe pedigree of an idea
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French pie de grue crane's foot, alluding to the spreading lines used in a genealogical chart
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pedigree
n.
early 15c., "genealogical table or chart," from Anglo-French pe de gru, a variant of Old French pied de gru "foot of a crane," from Latin pedem accusative of pes "foot" (see foot (n.)) + gruem (nominative grus) "crane," cognate with Greek geranos, Old English cran; see crane (n.)).
On old manuscripts, "descent" was indicated by a forked sign resembling the branching lines of a genealogical chart; the sign also happened to look like a bird's footprint. Form influenced in Middle English by association with degree. Meaning "ancestral line" is mid-15c.; of animals, c.1600. Related: Pedigreed.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pedigree
(pĕd′ĭ-grē′)- An ancestral line of descent, especially as diagrammed on a chart, to show ancestral history and to analyze Mendelian inheritance of certain traits including familial diseases.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.