English-French translations for ancestor

• ancêtre
  Ils veulent pour leurs ancêtres une "sépulture morale". They want a 'moral resting-place' for their ancestors.
  Je voudrais rappeler que nos ancêtres se déplaçaient volontiers. I should like to point out that our ancestors used readily to move around.
  Chaque peuple hérite de ses ancêtres d’une civilisation qu’il doit conserver. Every nation inherits from its ancestors a civilisation that it must preserve.
• aïeul
• ascendant
• père

Definition of ancestor

• 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
• An earlier type; a progenitor
• One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir
• One who had the same role or function in former times
• To be an ancestor of

Examples

• This fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse

Related words

• ancestors
• cenancestor
• ancestorism
• ancestor worship
• common ancestor
• apical ancestor
• first ancestor
• last common ancestor
• last universal ancestor