Definition of ANCESTOR

ancestor

Meanings

Plural: ancestors

Noun

  • someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
  • One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear.
  • An earlier type; a progenitor
  • One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
  • One who had the same role or function in former times.
  • A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.

Verb

  • To be an ancestor of.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor (“one who goes before”); the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin antecessōrem, accusative of antecessor, from antecēdō (“to go before”) + -tor (“-er”), from ante- (“before”) + cēdō (“to go”). See cede, and compare with antecessor.

Antonyms

afterbear, descendant

Scrabble Score: 10

ancestor is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
ancestor is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
ancestor is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

ancestor is a valid Words With Friends word