English

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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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

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See descendent § Usage notes.

Alternative forms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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Noun

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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

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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

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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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.

See also

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French

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Participle

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descendant

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

Noun

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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

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Adjective

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

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

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Latin

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Verb

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dēscendant

  1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō
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