ancestry
US/ˈæn.sɛs.tɹi/
ancestry noun: the state of being ancestors.
Noun
ancestry (countable and uncountable, plural ancestries)
- The state of being ancestors.
- Birth to a noble or high-ranking family, or to someone of honorable descent.
- Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.August 1 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian volume 123
- Tali: My people place a high value on family and ancestry. There's an unspoken expectation that I'll live up to my father's example.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: SSV Normandy
- A series of ancestors; the people from whom one is descended.
- I can trace my ancestry back to the 18th century.
ancestry meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Malayalam
ancestry in Tamil
- குலமரபு, வழி மரபு, வம்ச பரம்பரை, மூதாதையர் மரபு, ஊங்கணோர் வழி, முன்னோர் வழி
ancestry in Marathi
- series of ancestors or progenitors
- कूळ kūḷ
ancestry in Urdu
- سلسلہ نسب
ancestry in Malayalam
- തലമുറ, വംശം, കുലം, വംശപരമ്പര
More languagesFewer languages
- ancestry in Kannada
- ಮನೆತನ, ಪೀಳಿಗೆ, ವಂಶ, ಕುಲ
- ancestry in Persian
- پروز parvaz
Examples of ancestry in a sentence
- He considered himself to be a Yugoslav first and foremost, regardless of his Croat and Serb ancestry.
- In the 16th century, a "creole" was a person of European ancestry born in the New World.
- She wore a shamrock in honor of her Irish ancestry.
Synonyms of ancestry
Forms of ancestry
| plural | ancestries |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | ancestrie |
| alternative form (obsolete) | auncestrie |
| alternative form (obsolete) | auncestry |
Origin of ancestry
From Middle English auncestrie, from Old French ancesserie. See ancestor.
Words formed from ancestry
Questions about ancestry
- What does ancestry mean?
- Ancestry means the state of being ancestors.
- What is ancestry in Tamil?
- Ancestry in Tamil is குலமரபு, வழி மரபு, வம்ச பரம்பரை. See Ancestry meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ancestry?
- Ancestry is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ancestry?
- Ancestry is pronounced /ˈæn.sɛs.tɹi/ (US).
- What is the plural of ancestry?
- The plural of ancestry is ancestries.
Words near ancestry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ancestry (page history and authors); ancestry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ancestry (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ancestry (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ancestry (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ancestry.wav.
Cite this entry: “ancestry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ancestry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.