Main Entry: de·scent

Pronunciation: \di-ˈsent\

Function: noun

1 : the act or process of descending from a higher to a lower location <descent of the testes into the scrotum>
2 a : derivation from an ancestor b : the fact or process of originating by generation from an ancestral stock (as a species or genus)
3 : a former method of distillation in which the material was heated in a vessel having its outlet underneath so that the vapors produced were forced to descend