Descendant

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dɪˈsÉ›ndÉ™nt/

Origin

From Middle English dessendaunte, from Middle French, from Latin dēscendēns, present participle of descendere, from dē + scandere ("to climb, ascend").

Full definition of descendant

Adjective

1. descending from a biological ancestor.
2. proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

Usage notes

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

Alternative forms

• descendent

Antonyms

• ascendant, ascendent, ascending

Related terms

• descendancy

Noun

1. (literally) One who is the progeny a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.''The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
2. (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.''This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.
3. (biology) A later evolutionary type.''Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
4. (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
5. (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
• 1993, Jens ElmegÃ¥rd Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European Ä“-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi and Reiner Lipp (editors), Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, ISBN 978-90-272-3598-5, page 479:The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. nȍsÄ«, dȍnosÄ«.

Usage notes

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

Synonyms

• afterbear
• offspring
• scion

Antonyms

• ascendant
• ancestor
• forebear

Derived terms

• direct descendant
• indirect descendant