Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
  • noun Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree.
  • noun The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An account or history of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor; an enumeration of ancestors and their descendants in the natural order of succession.
  • noun In biology, a similar tracing of the lines of descent of animals or plants from ancestral forms. See evolution.
  • noun Pedigree; lineage; regular descent of a person or family from a progenitor.
  • noun Progeny; offspring; generation.
  • noun Synonyms Lineage, etc. See pedigree.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An account or history of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor; enumeration of ancestors and their children in the natural order of succession; a pedigree.
  • noun Regular descent of a person or family from a progenitor; pedigree; lineage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable The descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; lineage or pedigree.
  • noun countable A record or table of such descent; a family tree.
  • noun uncountable The study, and formal recording of such descents.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the study or investigation of ancestry and family history
  • noun successive generations of kin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English genealogie, from Old French, from Late Latin geneālogia, from Greek geneālogiā : geneā, family; see genə- in Indo-European roots + -logiā, -logy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French genealogie (Modern French généalogie), from Late Latin genealogia, from Ancient Greek γενεαλογία (genealogia), from γενεά (genea, "generation, descent") and -λογία (-logia, "study of")

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Examples

  • You can google the word genealogy and youll instantly come up with dozens of sites that will help you learn about your ancestors.

    Become Your Own Matchmaker Patti Stanger with Lisa Johnson Mandell 2009

  • Since genealogy is (dubious sources say) the second-most-popular topic on the Internet, I typed in "genealogy, sex" to see how those terms stacked up against each other.

    Trends in Highland Places 2006

  • In the present article, therefore, we shall not dwell upon the term genealogy, but consider the parts, usually genealogical lists, introduced by the phrase "these are the generations" or "this is the book of the generation"; we shall investigate the meaning of the introductory phrase, enumerate the principal genealogical lists, indicate their sources, draw attention to their importance, and point out their deficiencies.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • Publisher genealogy is all too complicated to figure out from where I sit these days, imprint of imprint of imprint begat imprint of imprint.

    Booker-thon update : The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud 2006

  • Publisher genealogy is all too complicated to figure out from where I sit these days, imprint of imprint of imprint begat imprint of imprint.

    Booker-thon update : The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud 2006

  • Publisher genealogy is all too complicated to figure out from where I sit these days, imprint of imprint of imprint begat imprint of imprint.

    61 entries from August 2006 2006

  • Anyone can misspell a word, and "genealogy" is a doozy.

    Archive 2005-06-01 2005

  • The genealogy of "genealogy" leads to a Greek word that may be translated as "race," "family," or perhaps depending on context as something else.

    Archive 2007-08-01 2007

  • The value of estate papers in Irish genealogy is in finding information about the estate and the tenants on the estate.

    Estate Papers « Cork Genealogist 2009

  • Those of us involved in genealogy know that when someone finds their roots, they want to visit the area, get to know the people who are still here and enjoy the feeling of belonging.

    Irish Genealogy – Tourism Approach « Cork Genealogist 2009

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