Ancestor

An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor. So this includes a father or mother, as well as grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on, although the correct female form of the word is "ancestrix", pl: "ancestrixes" or "ancestrices".

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Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other or if they share a common ancestor; in a curious use of language in evolutionary theory, this is called common descent. (Strictly speaking this may not be true for some bacteria and similar organisms which are capable of direct horizontal gene transfer.)

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Some societies have had a form of ancestor worship; most modern societies seem to have focused this into genealogy.

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Recursively: REDIRECT Recursion...

Father: A father is the male parent of a child. Fathers may be categorised according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of paternity has been intrinsically problematic and ...

Grandparent: Grandparents are the father or mother of a person's own father and/or mother. Everyone has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc. Sometimes these numbers are lower and in the case of having only two or three grandpare...