Word
genealogy
Phoneticsge·neal·o·gy
US/ˌdʒiniˈɑɫədʒi/
UK/dʒˌiːnɪˈælədʒi/
Definitions
01the study of family history
n. the study of family history and how different generations of a family are connected.
n. the academic or amateur study of family lineages and the history of their members. Uncountable in this sense.
“She became interested in genealogy after finding an old box of family letters.”
“Advances in DNA testing have revolutionised the field of genealogy, allowing researchers to bridge gaps in historical paper trails.”
Synonyms
02a family tree or record
n. a list or chart that shows the history of a family over many years.
n. a record or table showing the descent of a person or family from their ancestors. Countable in this sense.
“The family published a detailed genealogy that traced their roots back to the 1700s.”
“The historian spent years compiling a complete genealogy of the royal house, documenting every branch of the family across three centuries.”
03a person's line of descent
n. the series of ancestors that a person or group comes from.
n. the actual line of descent or pedigree of a specific person or group. Often used to discuss biological or historical origins.
“He was proud of his ancient genealogy and his family's long history in the village.”
“The claimant sought to prove his genealogy through a series of baptismal records and land deeds held in the county archives.”
Formal
Synonyms
Real-World Examples
“The pair’s genetic genealogy profiles were the oldest that the lab had ever created.” 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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
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englishreference.com/q/genealogy