noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The last common ancestor, especially of several different species. uncommon

Synonyms

All synonyms

cenancestorlast universal common ancestorluca

Etymology

Coined by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 2004 in his book The Ancestor's Tale.

Related phrases

last universal common ancestor

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.