n.
a person, typically one more remote than a grandparent, from whom one is descended.
▸something from which a later species or version has evolved.
Derivative
- ancestral adj.
- ancestrally adv.
- ancestress n.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. ancestre, from L. antecessor, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.
