ancestryan‧ces‧try /ˈænsəstri, -ses- $ -ses-/ noun (plural ancestries) [countable usually singular, uncountable] formal 
Her mother is of German ancestry (=has German ancestors). Helen’s family can trace their ancestry back to the 1700s.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- It is simply that adaptation and ancestry can explain what adaptation alone can not.
- Now he had an ancestry, as noble and extensive as he wished.
- Some churches are no doubt of Roman ancestry.
- The ancestry of pentecostalism-on the other hand-traces back to mystical, Wesleyan, and Holiness roots.
- The nature of this will vary greatly depending on a rose's ancestry, while its appreciation is a very personal matter.
- This was wu-shu, the combat of my ancestry.
Longman Language Activatorto come from a particular country, town etc
if you come from or are from a particular place, that is where you were born or where you lived for a long time: · She comes from Japan.· Where are you from?· My wife's parents and my parents come from the same town.
: be a native of Tokyo/London/Wales etc to have been born in and to have spent the early part of your life in that place -- used especially when you are writing about someone's life: · Hughes, who is a native of Belfast, often uses the city as a setting for his novels.· DeParle is a native of Rockwood, Tennessee.
to have been born in a particular country or to be a citizen of that country because your parents come from there, especially when you now live somewhere else: · She's lived in Australia for a long time, but she's Welsh by birth.· They're Russian by birth but they've lived in America for so long that they feel little attachment to their homeland.
if you are of Scottish/Russian etc ancestry , relatives of yours that are now dead came from that country a long time ago: · There are roughly 40 million Americans of Irish ancestry.· Her fine features suggested she was of Arabic or Indian ancestry.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Her mother is of German ancestry (=has German ancestors). Helen’s family can trace their ancestry back to the 1700s.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB
the members of your family who lived a long time agoof ... ancestry Her mother is of German ancestry (=has German ancestors). Helen’s family can trace their ancestry back to the 1700s.· Incidentally, this means that we can use mitochondria to trace our ancestry, strictly down the female line.· Different parts of the cells of trees or elephants trace their ancestry to a whole range of ancient beings.
Her mother is of German ancestry (=has German ancestors). Helen’s family can trace their ancestry back to the 1700s.