descendant

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English

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Etymology

From Middle English dessendaunte, borrowed from Middle French, from Latin dēscendēns, present participle of descendere, from dē + scandere (“to climb, ascend”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

descendant (not comparable)

  1. Descending; going down.
    The elevator resumed its descendant trajectory.
    • 1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, page 14:
      Eagle descendant, or descending. See DESCENDANT, and Pl. 22, fig. 6. Eagle descendant, displayed. See Pl. 22, fig. 7. Eagle displayed, recursant. See DISPLAYED RECURSANT, and Pl. 22, […]
    • 1984, Charles A. Ravenstein, Air Force combat wings: lineage and honors histories 1947-1977, DIANE Publishing, →ISBN, page 259:
      Azure, surmounting a cloud argent, an American eagle descendant, wings endorsed proper, between his beak four lightning streaks, […]
  2. Descending from a biological ancestor.
    Power in the kingdom is transferred in a descendant manner.
    • 1892, Arthur Dillon, Gods and Men, page 214:
      Pitiable sportster, / To choose thy prey so humbly, to seduce / A beggar wench who hath not the high pride / Descendant still from kingly ancestors, / To keep her royal place.
  3. Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

Usage notes

See descendent § Usage notes.

Alternative forms

Antonyms

Translations

Noun

descendant (plural descendants)

  1. One of the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
    Antonyms: ancestor, progenitor; forefather, foremother
    Hypernym: successor
    Meronyms: issue, line, progeny; family; clan
    The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
  2. (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
    This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.
  3. (biology) A later evolutionary type.
    Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
  4. (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
    English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
  5. (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
    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, 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.
  6. (astrology) The intersection of the western (setting) horizon and the ecliptic, its ecliptical longitude; the astrological sign it corresponds to.

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

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēscendentem, the present participle of dēscendere, itself from dē + scandere (“climb, ascend”).

Pronunciation

Participle

descendant

  1. present participle of descendre
  2. (preceded by en) gerund of descendre

Noun

descendant m (plural descendants, feminine descendante)

  1. a descendant; one who is the progeny of someone at any distance of time; e.g. a child; a grandchild, etc.

Antonyms

Adjective

descendant (feminine descendante, masculine plural descendants, feminine plural descendantes)

  1. (which is) descending
    Antonyms: ascendant, montant

Derived terms

Further reading

Latin

Verb

dēscendant

  1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō
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