ancestor
/ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/
"ancestor" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ancestor” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,096 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,096
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ancestor |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #15,096 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ancestor” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ancestor is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,096 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for ancestor, with forms such as "acnestor", "anccestor", and "ancesotr". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "ancestry", "ancestors", "acceptor", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor (“one who goes before”); the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin antecessōrem, accusative o… The correct English form is ancestor, spelled A-N-C-E-S-T-O-R.
Definition
- 1One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather; a forebear.
- 2An earlier type; a progenitor.
- 3One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
- 4One who had the same role or function in former times.
- 5A word or phrase which serves as the origin of a term in another language.
Etymology
From Middle English ancestre, auncestre, ancessour; the first forms from Old French ancestre (modern French ancêtre), from the Latin nominative antecessor (“one who goes before”); the last form from Old French ancessor, from Latin antecessōrem, accusative of antecessor, from antecēdō (“to go before”) + -tor (“-er”), from ante- (“before”) + cēdō (“to go”). See cede, and compare with antecessor.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acnestor,anccestor,ancesotr,ancesstor,ancestorr,ancestro,ancesttor,ancetsor,ancsetor,anecstor,anncestor,nacestor
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ancestor - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ancestor"?
What does "ancestor" mean?
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Using “ancestor”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-C-E-S-T-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ancestry” - see the side-by-side comparison. ancestor vs ancestry
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.