descendant
English
Etymology
From Middle English dessendaunte, borrowed from Middle French, from Latin dēscendēns, present participle of descendere, from dē + scandere (“to climb, ascend”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /dɪˈsɛndənt/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: des‧cen‧dant
Adjective
descendant (not comparable)
- Descending; going down
- The elevator resumed its descendant trajectory.
- Descending from a biological ancestor.
- Power in the kingdom is transferred in a descendant manner.
- Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.
Usage notes
The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.
Alternative forms
- descendent
Antonyms
- ascendant, ascendent, ascending
Related terms
- descendancy
Translations
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Noun
descendant (plural descendants)
- One of the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
- The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
- (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
- This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.
- (biology) A later evolutionary type.
- Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
- (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
- English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
- (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
- 1993, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ē-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi and Reiner Lipp (editors), Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 479:
- The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. nȍsī, dȍnosī.
- Synonyms: reflex, derivative
- Antonym: etymon
- Coordinate term: cognate
- 1993, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ē-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi and Reiner Lipp (editors), Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 479:
Usage notes
The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.
Synonyms
- (offspring): afterbear, offspring, scion, and see Thesaurus:child & relative
Antonyms
- ascendant
- ancestor
- forebear
Derived terms
- direct descendant
- indirect descendant
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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See also
- offspring
- offshoot
- progeny
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin dēscendēns, dēscendēntem, the present participle of descendere, itself from dē + scandere (“climb, ascend”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /de.sɑ̃.dɑ̃/
audio (file)
Participle
descendant
- present participle of descendre
- (preceded by en) gerund of descendre
Noun
descendant m (plural descendants, feminine descendante)
- a descendant; one who is the progeny of someone at any distance of time; e.g. a child; a grandchild, etc.
Antonyms
- ancêtre m
- ascendant m
Adjective
descendant (feminine descendante, masculine plural descendants, feminine plural descendantes)
- (which is) descending
- Antonyms: ascendant, montant
Derived terms
- compatibilité descendante
Related terms
- descendance
- descendre
Further reading
- “descendant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Verb
dēscendant
- third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō