# ancestor

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ · frequency rank #15,096

## Definitions
1. 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.
2. An earlier type; a progenitor.
3. One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.
4. One who had the same role or function in former times.
5. A 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.

## Easily confused with
- **ancestry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ancestor-vs-ancestry)
- **ancestors** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ancestor-vs-ancestors)
- **acceptor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/acceptor-vs-ancestor)

## Common misspellings (12)
`acnestor`, `anccestor`, `ancesotr`, `ancesstor`, `ancestorr`, `ancestro`, `ancesttor`, `ancetsor`, `ancsetor`, `anecstor`, `anncestor`, `nacestor`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ancestor