Genealogy Words

Karen H. (United States of America)
Give "family" a new meaning with these terms that are likely to be found while doing genealogical research! Some are legal terms likely to be found in wills and probate records, and others are terms devised to describe particular lineage situations. Some are new terms, others have been in use since earliest written history. Do you know family the way genealogists know family?
39 words 21 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. genealogy
    the study or investigation of ancestry and family history
  2. Plantagenet line
    the family name of a line of English kings that reigned from 1154 to 1485
  3. ancestry
    the lineage of an individual
  4. stemma
    the descendants of one individual
  5. Esq
    a title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight; placed after the name
  6. centenarian
    being at least 100 years old
  7. domicile
    housing that someone is living in
  8. pedigree
    the ancestry or lineage of an individual
  9. emigrate
    leave one's country of residence for a new one
  10. immigrate
    come into a new country and change residency
  11. transmigrate
    be born anew in another body after death
  12. patriarchal
    of a social organization with the male as the head
  13. matriarchal
    having a woman or women as the head or ruler
  14. familial
    relating to a social unit living together
  15. filial
    designating the generation following the parental generation
  16. in perpetuity
    for life
  17. bequest
    a gift of personal property by will
  18. collateral
    accompanying; following as a consequence
  19. enatic
    related on the mother's side
  20. consanguineous
    related by blood
  21. cognate
    related by blood
  22. sib
    one related by blood or origin
  23. testator
    a person who makes a will
  24. intestate
    having made no valid will or not disposed of by a legal will
  25. dower
    money brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
  26. dowry
    money brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
  27. nonage
    any age prior to the legal age
  28. matricentric
    centered upon the mother
  29. bastardy
    the status of being born to parents who were not married
  30. bar sinister
    the status of being born to parents who were not married
  31. executrix
    a woman executor
  32. probate
    act or process of proving that a will was properly executed
  33. census
    a periodic count of the population
  34. gaol
    a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
  35. tutelary
    providing protective supervision
  36. spinster
    an elderly unmarried woman
  37. jr.
    used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
  38. issue
    some situation or event that is thought about
  39. progeny
    the immediate descendants of a person
Created on Tue Apr 10 02:56:14 EDT 2007

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