User Contributed Dictionary
Pronunciation
- (UK) , /ˈænsɛstəz/, /ˈ
Extensive Definition
An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the
parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent,
great-great-grandparent,
great-great-great-grandparent,
great-great-great-great-grandparent,
and so forth).
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
who 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.
Assuming that all ancestors
are unrelated, an individual has 2n ancestors in the nth generation
before him and about 2g+1 total ancestors in the g generations
before him. In practise, however, it's clear that the vast majority
of ancestors of humans (and indeed any other species) are somehow
related. Consider n = 40: the human species is surely more than 40
generations old, yet the number 240 dwarfs the number of humans
that have ever lived.
Some cultures place great
reverence on ancestors, both living and dead; contrastingly, people
in more youth-oriented cultural contexts may display a lesser
degree of veneration for 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.
As far as contribution to ones
autosomal DNA is concerned (this does not include Y-chromosomal DNA
or mitochondrial DNA) assuming that none of one's ancestors had
children with relatives (even distant relatives), an individual has
a total of 2046 ancestors up to the 10th generation, 1024 of which
are 10th-generation ancestors. With the same assumption, Any given
person has over a million 20th-generation ancestors (generally
equivalent to around 500 years) and this theoretical number
increases past the total population of the world at around 1400 AD.
See also
ancestors in German:
Ahn
ancestors in Spanish:
Ancestro
ancestors in Hindi:
पूर्वज
ancestors in Dutch:
Voorouder
ancestors in Japanese:
先祖
ancestors in Portuguese:
Antepassado
ancestors in Simple English:
Ancestor
ancestors in Slovenian:
Prednik
ancestors in Finnish:
Vainaja
ancestors in Swedish:
Förfäder
ancestors in Contenese:
祖先
ancestors in Chinese:
祖先
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
antecedents, apprentice, architect, artificer, artist, ascendants, author, begetter, beginner, builder, conceiver, constructor, craftsman, creator, designer, deviser, discoverer, effector, elders, engenderer, engineer, executor, executrix, father, fathers, forebears, forefathers, founder, generator, grandfathers, grandparents, grower, inaugurator, industrialist, initiator, instigator, institutor, introducer, inventor, journeyman, maker, manufacturer, master, master craftsman,
mother, organizer, originator, past master,
patriarchs, planner, precursor, predecessors, prime mover,
producer, progenitors, raiser, realizer, shaper, sire, smith, wright