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.
Origin of pedigree
1375–1425;late Middle Englishpedegru < Anglo-French, equivalent to Middle Frenchpie de grue literally, foot of crane, a fanciful way of describing the appearance of the lines of a genealogical chart
2. 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.
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.
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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