ancestry

[an-ses-tree, -suh-stree]

noun

plural

ancestries 

1. family or ancestral descent; lineage.

   Synonyms: stock, genealogy, pedigree

2. honorable or distinguished descent.

   famous by title and ancestry.

3. a series of ancestors.

   His ancestry settled Utah.

   Synonyms: line, family

4. the inception or origin of a phenomenon, object, idea, or style.

5. the history or developmental process of a phenomenon, object, idea, or style.

ancestry

/ ˈænsɛstrɪ /

noun

1. lineage or descent, esp when ancient, noble, or distinguished

2. ancestors collectively

Word History and Origins

Origin of ancestry¹

1300–50; Middle English, equivalent to ancestre ancestor + -y ³; replacing Middle English aunce ( s ) trie < Anglo-French

Example Sentences

On the home front, Romer shows how Ruth barnstormed Central California in 1927, a decade and a half before the U.S. government forced citizens of Japanese ancestry into internment camps there.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

DNA analysis has also revealed the men had a mix of ancestry and that none appeared to be from the local area.

Read more on BBC

Border Patrol agents violated the Constitution when they stopped a car on a freeway near San Clemente because its occupants appeared to be “of Mexican ancestry.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"We want to understand our ancestry and the migration routes of our ancestors," says professor G Kumaresan, who heads the genetics department at the university.

Read more on BBC

"We checked their phones and found suspicious contacts from Bangladesh. Some of them also failed to answer questions about their ancestry during interrogation," he said.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• ancestor 
• antecedent 
• descent 
• extraction 
• forebear 
• genealogy 
• heritage 
• lineage 
• origin 
• parentage