progenitor

American  

[proh-jen-i-ter] / proʊˈdʒɛn ɪ tər /

noun

1. a biologically related ancestor.

   a progenitor of the species.

2. a person or thing that first indicates a direction, originates something, or serves as a model; predecessor; precursor.

   the progenitor of modern painting.

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progenitor British  

/ prəʊˈdʒɛnɪtə /

noun

1. a direct ancestor

2. an originator or founder of a future development; precursor

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Other Word Forms

• progenitorial adjective
• progenitorship noun

Etymology

Origin of progenitor

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin prōgenitor the founder of a family. See pro- ¹, genitor

Example Sentences

These signals help immature progenitor T cells develop into fully differentiated T cells.

From Science Daily

Its progenitors - who now can generate videos of literally anything in just a few minutes - have the potential to disrupt the lucrative influencer economy.

From BBC

One key conclusion of the research is that mining undifferentiated asteroids -- the primordial remnants of the solar system's formation considered the progenitor bodies of chondritic meteorites -- remains impractical for now.

From Science Daily

The number of apical progenitor cells, which are essential for building the cerebral cortex, was significantly lower.

From Science Daily

In earlier work at Johns Hopkins University, Marbán's laboratory developed a method to extract progenitor cells from human heart tissue.

From Science Daily