genealogy

noun ge·ne·al·o·gy \ ˌjē-nē-ˈä-lə-jē also -ˈa-lə- also ˌje-nē- \

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Definition of genealogy

plural genealogies

1 : an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms

2 : regular descent of a person, family, or group of organisms from a progenitor (see progenitor 1) or older form : pedigree

3 : the study of family ancestral lines

4 : an account of the origin and historical development of something

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genealogical

play \ˌjē-nē-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl, ˌje-nē-\ adjective

—

genealogically

play \ˌjē-nē-ə-ˈlä-ji-k(ə-)lē, ˌje-nē-\ adverb

See genealogy defined for English-language learners

See genealogy defined for kids

Examples of genealogy in a Sentence

They've been researching their genealogies.
has a distinguished genealogy that traces back to William the Conqueror

Recent Examples of genealogy from the Web

Artwork, photos and genealogies of contemporary Chumash people reveal the resilience of their culture, despite the tragedy reflected in the nearby cemetery.

— jeanne cooper, San Francisco Chronicle, "One Day, One Place: First inhabitants offer different view of Santa Barbara," 12 June 2018
The horse’s ownership group, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, submitted the name to the Jockey Club, the governing body that approves racehorse names and keeps track of genealogy records.

— kalyn kahler, SI.com, "The Odds Aren’t In His Favor, but Rob Gronkowski Is All in on Gronkowski the Horse," 5 June 2018
The security breach underscores growing concerns about the privacy of data submitted to genealogy platforms.

— megan thielking, STAT, "Genealogy site MyHeritage says 92 million user accounts compromised," 5 June 2018
The company is paying her to helm the its brand new genetic genealogy unit, which the company announced May 8.

— megan molteni, WIRED, "The Key to Cracking Cold Cases Might Be Genealogy Sites," 1 June 2018
Later episodes explore the genealogy of Jean Smart, Hilary Duff and Megan Mullally.

— sara aridi, New York Times, "What’s on TV Monday: ‘The Final Year’ and ‘Sando’," 21 May 2018
The company, GEDmatch, is well-known among genetic genealogy enthusiasts.

— catharine wang, BostonGlobe.com, "The dodgy world of do-it-yourself genetics," 18 May 2018
That's not uncommon; she's been putting out viral genealogy facts about public figures for more than a year now.

— aj willingham, CNN, "They spoke out against immigrants. So she unearthed their own immigrant ancestors," 15 May 2018
For moms into genealogy, there's no better (or more useful) gift than a DNA kit, which will save mom the struggle of tracing her ancestry the old-fashioned way.

— sara m moniuszko, USA TODAY, "Mother's Day gift guide: 8 ideas that will help make mom's life easier," 30 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'genealogy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of genealogy

Middle English genealogie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin genealogia, from Greek, from genea race, family + -logia -logy; akin to Greek genos race

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year