Descendant
/dɪˈsɛn.dənt/noun
A person or thing that comes from a particular ancestor, source, or earlier form.
Did you know?Descendant comes from Latin descendere, and its root de- + scandere means “to climb down,” so your family tree is literally built on the language of descent.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skand-
“to climb, leap”
Latin
Latin
scandere
“to climb”
Latin
Latin
descendere
“to climb down, descend”
Old French
Old French
descendant
“descending, coming down”
Middle English
English
descendant
“one who descends from an ancestor”
Modern English
English
descendant
“a person or thing that comes from a particular ancestor, source, or earlier form”