Genealogy
//ˌd͡ʒiniˈɑlədʒi// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; lineage or pedigree. countable
"The book significantly extends on Rosenstein’s monumental 1990 work, “The Unbroken Chain,” which focused on the genealogies of the major Ashkenazi rabbinic dynasties from medieval times to the present."
- 2 the study or investigation of ancestry and family history wordnet
- 3 A record or table of such descent; a family tree. countable
- 4 successive generations of kin wordnet
- 5 The study, and formal recording of such descents. uncountable
Example
More examples"When his mother studied their genealogy, she was horrified to find out they were related to Hitler."
Etymology
From Middle English genealogie, genologie, genelogie, from Old French genealogie (Modern French généalogie), from Late Latin genealogia, from Ancient Greek γενεαλογία (genealogía), from γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”).
Related phrases
More for "genealogy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.