pedigree

[ped-i-gree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pedigree ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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 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

Related formsped·i·gree·less, adjective

Synonyms for pedigree

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pedigree ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pedigree

lineage, thoroughbred, origin, clan, family, race, descent, genealogy, breed, extraction, heredity, derivation, blood, line, stock, full-blooded, pedigreed, stirps

Examples from the Web for pedigree

Contemporary Examples of pedigree

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 More
Janice 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 Race
Nicholas McCarvel
April 17, 2014
Unlike hoity-toity displays of pedigree fluff, the Average Joe Cat Show is a celebration of middling felines.
The Cat's Meow: Top 10 Destinations for Feline Fanatics
Lonely Planet
December 20, 2013
In his early career, Xi also had worked for a former defense minister, and his pedigree gives him close ties to the brass.
Xi Jinping and the Princelings Take Power in China
Melinda Liu
November 15, 2012
Name: David Siegel Age: 78 Pedigree: Founder of Westgate, a large time-share business.
Jack Welch, Rupert Murdoch & More Angry Old Rich Guys Who Hate Obama
Daniel Gross
October 11, 2012

Historical Examples of pedigree

I remember such a one in Picardy, with a name as long as a Gascon's pedigree.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
Otherwise why the pedigree, why the rigid castes, the isolation of women?
City of Endless Night
Milo 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 Cats
Helen M. Winslow
He had too profound a respect for his own pedigree to lay his sins at his great-grandfather's door.
Audrey Craven
May Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for pedigree

pedigree

noun

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

Derived Formspedigreed, adjective

Word Origin for pedigree

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pedigree

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.

pedigree in Medicine

pedigree

[pĕd′ĭ-grē′]

n.

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.