ancestor
/ˈansɛstə
/- A smaller unit is the lineage, a kin group of four or five generations descended from a male ancestor traced though the male line.
- Yet evolution predicts not just successions of forms, but also genetic lineages from ancestors to descendants.
- The family unit has at its head the ancestors followed by the grandparents, the father, the wives and then the children.
Synonyms
- It is generally accepted that all multicellular animals have evolved from a common ancestor, which itself evolved from a single-celled organism.
- There are two main types, the dome heads and the horned dinosaurs, which evolved from a common ancestor during the early Cretaceous.
- Finally we get to the common ancestor of all animals, plants, protists, and fungi.
- This solution is the ancestor of many versions of platonism in mathematics.
- The oud is a popular instrument; it is an ancient stringed instrument that is the ancestor of the European lute.
- An ancient stringed instrument, it is an ancestor of the European lute.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French ancestre, from Latin antecessor, from antecedere, from ante 'before' + cedere 'go'.
cede from early 16th century:
Cede is from French céder or Latin cedere ‘to yield, give way, go’. Cedere is a rich source of English words including abscess (mid 16th century) ‘going away’ (of the infection when it bursts); access [Middle English] ‘go to’; ancestor (Middle English) someone who went ante ‘before’; antecedent (Late Middle English) from the same base as ancestor; cease (Middle English); concede (Late Middle English) to give way completely; decease (Middle English) ‘go away’; exceed (Late Middle English) to go beyond a boundary; intercede (late 16th century) go between; predecessor (Late Middle English) one who went away before; proceed (Late Middle English) to go forward; recede (Late Middle English) ‘go back’; and succeed (Late Middle English) ‘come close after’.