Basic Details
Word: Ancestor
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person in your family who lived long before you, such as a great-grandparent or someone even further back.
Synonyms: forebear, forefather, predecessor
Antonyms: descendant
Word origin: Comes through Old French ancestre from Latin antecessor, one who goes before.
How to Spell Ancestor
Syllables: an - ces - tor
Tricky part: The s sound after an is spelt c, so the word begins a-n-c-e-s. The ending is or, not er, which is where most slips happen.
Watch out for: ansestor, ancester, ancestar
Memory tip: Ancestors are ancient relatives, and both words open with the same three letters, a-n-c. Finish with or, as in creator.
Usage Examples
Example 1: My grandmother says our ancestors came to Kerala from Gujarat as spice traders.
Example 2: The wolf is the wild ancestor of the pet dog.
Example 3: For the school project we drew a family tree and found an ancestor who taught in a village school in 1890.
Fun Fact
The number of your ancestors doubles with each generation you go back: 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and more than a thousand places on the tree just ten generations ago.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. heritige 2. genaration 3. tradision 4. ancestor
a) customs, buildings and history passed down from earlier times
b) all the people born and living at about the same time
c) a family member who lived long before you
d) a belief or custom handed down over many years
Show answer
c) a family member who lived long before you. Ancestor is the one to trust here; heritage, tradition and generation are each written wrongly in the list.
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to ancestor as used in the sentence:
Raghav learnt that an ancestor of his had been a soldier in the army of Tipu Sultan.
a) descendant
b) forebear
c) predecessor
d) forefather
Show answer
a) descendant. An ancestor came before you and a descendant comes after you; forefather, forebear and predecessor all point backwards in time.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The tribe believed that the spirit of a wise tsoncrae watched over the village well.
a) ancestral
b) ancestor
c) ancestry
d) ancient
Show answer
b) ancestor. Eight letters with one c and one o make ancestor; ancestry and ancestral need a y or an l.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
During the summer holidays my uncle showed us a faded photograph of an ancester who once ran a small printing press in Pune.
a) photograph
b) ancester
c) holidays
d) printing
Show answer
b) ancester. Like actor and doctor, ancestor finishes with or.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these people could be your ancestor?
a) your future grandchild
b) your younger brother
c) your classmate
d) your great-grandmother
Show answer
d) your great-grandmother
2. The noun ancestry means ____.
a) a set of steps
b) a place to tie boats
c) a person's family line or origins
d) a strong dislike
Show answer
c) a person's family line or origins
