ancestor

UK: /ˈænsɛstə^r/

US: /ˈænsɛstɚ/

US: (an′ses tər or, esp. Brit., -sə stər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

an•ces•tor /ˈænsɛstɚ/   n. [countable]

1. a person from whom someone is descended;
   forebear:
   Their ancestors were early pioneers.
2. one that serves as an earlier prototype;
   forerunner:
   The horse and buggy was an ancestor to the automobile.

an•ces•tress, n. [countable]
Related Words

ancestor and ancestry are nouns, ancestral is an adjective:
One of her ancestors was a king. She is of noble ancestry. They returned to the ancestral home.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

an•ces•tor  (an′ses tər or, esp. Brit., -sə stər), n. 

1. a person from whom one is descended;
   forebear;
   progenitor.
2. Biology the actual or hypothetical form or stock from which an organism has developed or descended.
3. an object, idea, style, or occurrence serving as a prototype, forerunner, or inspiration to a later one:
   The balloon is an ancestor of the modern dirigible.
4. a person who serves as an influence or model for another;
   one from whom mental, artistic, spiritual, etc., descent is claimed:
   a philosophical ancestor.
5. Law a person from whom an heir derives an inheritance.

• Latin antecessor antecessor
• Old French (with t developed between s and r)
• Middle English ancestre 1250–1300

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

ancestor / ˈænsɛstə/ noun

1. (often plural) a person from whom another is directly descended, esp someone more distant than a grandparent; forefather
2. an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved
3. a person or thing regarded as a forerunner of a later person or thing: the ancestor of the modern camera

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French ancestre, from Late Latin antecēssor one who goes before, from Latin antecēdere; see antecede

ˈancestress noun:feminine