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| An '''ancestor''', also known as a '''forefather''', '''fore- |
An '''ancestor''', also known as a '''forefather''', '''fore-elder''' or a '''forebear''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forefather|title=Thesaurus results for FOREFATHER|website=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}</ref> is a ] or (]) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a ], ], great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an estate has been inherited."<ref>{{cite book |title=Websters New World Dictionary|publisher=The World Publishing Company|location= Cleveland and New York }}</ref> | ||
| Two individuals have a ] relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In ]ary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of ]. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some ] and other organisms capable of ]. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/|title=The Missing Men in Your Family Tree|first=John|last=Tierney|date=5 September 2007|website=] |access-date=5 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505211842/https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/ |archive-date=5 May 2018}}</ref> | Two individuals have a ] relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In ]ary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of ]. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some ] and other organisms capable of ]. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/|title=The Missing Men in Your Family Tree|first=John|last=Tierney|date=5 September 2007|website=] |access-date=5 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505211842/https://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/the-missing-men-in-your-family-tree/ |archive-date=5 May 2018}}</ref> | ||
Revision as of 09:30, 30 May 2021
Person from whom another person is descended For other uses, see Ancestor (disambiguation).
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An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). Ancestor is "any person from whom one is descended. In law, the person from whom an estate has been inherited."
Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some bacteria and other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer. Some research suggests that the average person has twice as many female ancestors as male ancestors. This might have been due to the past prevalence of polygynous relations and female hypergamy.
Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2 ancestors in the nth generation before her/him and a total of 2 − 2 ancestors in the g generations before him/her. In practice, however, it is clear that most ancestors of humans (and any other species) are multiply related (see pedigree collapse). Consider n = 40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2, approximately 10 or one trillion, dwarfs the number of humans who have ever lived.
Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek providence from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes known as ancestor worship or, more accurately, ancestor veneration.
See also
- Archaic humans
- Collateral descendant
- Consanguinity
- DNA
- Ethnic group
- Family
- Genealogy
- Genetic genealogy
- Kinship
- Lineage (anthropology)
- Lineal descendant
- Most recent common ancestor
- Progenitor
Citations
- "Thesaurus results for FOREFATHER". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
- Websters New World Dictionary. Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company.
- Tierney, John (5 September 2007). "The Missing Men in Your Family Tree". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
External links
| Family | |||
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| First-degree relatives | |||
| Second-degree relatives | |||
| Third-degree relatives | |||
| Family-in-law | |||
| Stepfamily | |||
| Kinship terminology | |||
| Genealogy and lineage |
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| Relationships | |||
| Holidays | |||
| Related | |||