ancestral

/ænˈsɛstrəl/

/ænˈsɛstrəl/

Other forms: ancestrally

Ancestral things have been around so long that they once belonged to your ancestors, the family members who lived before your grandparents were born.

Your ancestral home is the place your great-grandparents or great-great-uncle once lived. You can also use this adjective to describe things that someone inherited from ancestors, like your friend's ancestral beach cottage or your mom's ancestral set of silverware. Ancestral comes from the Late Latin antecessor, "predecessor," or literally "forgoer," from the root antecedere, "to precede."

Definitions of ancestral

1. adjective

   of or belonging to or inherited from an ancestor
2. adjective

   inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent
   “ancestral home”

   “ancestral lore”

   synonyms: hereditary, patrimonial, transmissible

   heritable, inheritable

   capable of being inherited