pedigree definition | Dictionary.com

ped⋅i⋅gree

[ped-i-gree]

–noun

1.	an ancestral line; line of descent; lineage; ancestry.

2.	a genealogical table, chart, list, or record, esp. of a purebred animal.

3.	distinguished, excellent, or pure ancestry.

4.	derivation, origin, or history: the pedigree of a word.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME pedegru < AF, equiv. to MF pie de grue lit., foot of crane, a fanciful way of describing the appearance of the lines of a genealogical chart

Related forms:

ped⋅i⋅gree⋅less, adjective

Synonyms:
2. Pedigree, genealogy refer to an account of ancestry. A pedigree is a table or chart recording a line of ancestors, either of persons or (more especially) of animals, as horses, cattle, and dogs; in the case of animals, such a table is used as proof of superior qualities: a detailed pedigree. A genealogy is an account of the descent of a person or family traced through a series of generations, usually from the first known ancestor: a genealogy that includes a king.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To pedigree

ped·i·gree (pěd'ĭ-grē')

1. A line of ancestors; a lineage.
2. A list of ancestors; a family tree.
A chart of an individual's ancestors used in human genetics to analyze Mendelian inheritance of certain traits, especially of familial diseases.
A list of the ancestors of a purebred animal.

[Middle English pedegru, from Anglo-Norman pe de grue : pe, foot (from Latin pēs; see pedi-) + de, of (from Latin dē; see de-) + grue, crane (from the resemblance of a crane's foot to the lines of succession on a genealogical chart) (from Vulgar Latin *grūā, from Latin grūs, gru-; see gerə-² in Indo-European roots).]
ped'i·greed' adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pedigree

Ped"i*gree\, n. [Of unknown origin; possibly fr. F. par degr['e]s by degrees, -- for a pedigree is properly a genealogical table which records the relationship of families by degrees; or, perh., fr. F. pied de grue crane's foot, from the shape of the heraldic genealogical trees.]

1. A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors.

Alterations of surnames . . . have obscured the truth of our pedigrees. --Camden.

His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree. --Milton.

I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees. --Sir P. Sidney.

The Jews preserved the pedigrees of their tribes. --Atterbury.

2. (Stock Breeding) A record of the lineage or strain of an animal, as of a horse.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : pedigree

Spanish: pedigrí, linaje,

German: der Stammbaum,

Japanese: 系図

More Translations »

pedigree

c.1410, "genealogical table or chart," from Anglo-Fr. pe de gru, a variant of O.Fr. pied de gru "foot of a crane," from L. pedem "foot" + gruem (nom. grus) "crane," cognate with Gk. geranos, O.E. cran, see crane). On old manuscripts, "descent" was indicated by a forked sign resembling the branching lines of a genealogical chart; the sign also happened to look like a bird's footprint. Form infl. in M.E. by association with degree. Meaning "ancestral line" is c.1440; of animals, 1608.

Main Entry: ped·i·gree
Pronunciation: 'ped-&-"grE
Function: noun
: a record of the ancestry of an individual pedigree of adiabetic patient>

pedigree ped·i·gree (pěd'ĭ-grē')
n.
An ancestral line of descent, especially as diagrammed on a chart, to show ancestral history and to analyze Mendelian inheritance of certain traits including familial diseases.

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