a person in your family who lived a long time ago 祖宗；祖先 Extra ExamplesTopics Family and relationshipsb2, Historyb2He can trace his ancestors back to the reign of Elizabeth I. 他的祖先可以追溯到伊丽莎白一世统治时期。 He claims as his literary ancestors such giants as Henry James and William Faulkner. 他将亨利・詹姆斯和威廉・福克纳等文学巨匠称作自己的先驱。 Our earliest ancestors lived in a world fraught with danger. 我们最早的祖先生活在一个充满危险的世界里。 The Romans built these monuments to glorify their illustrious ancestors. 罗马人修建这些纪念碑来颂扬他们杰出的祖先。 The builder of the house was a direct ancestor of the present owner. 建造这幢房子的人就是它现在主人的一位直系祖先。 The two species share a common ancestor. 这两个物种有一个共同的祖先。 They honour/honor their ancestors and believe in the spirits of nature. 他们尊重先辈，信仰自然神灵。 a distant ancestor of mine 我的一位远祖
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- direct
- immediate
- ancient
- …
- be descended from
- have
- share
- …
an animal that lived in the past that a modern animal has developed from （动物的）原始种型 a reptile that was the common ancestor of lizards and turtles 作为蜥蜴和龟的共同原种的一种爬行动物
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- direct
- immediate
- ancient
- …
- be descended from
- have
- share
- …
an early form of a machine that later became more developed （机器的）原型 The ancestor of the modern bicycle was called a penny-farthing. 现代自行车的原型称作 penny-farthing（一种前轮大后轮小的自行车）。
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French ancestre, from Latin antecessor, from antecedere, from ante ‘before’ + cedere ‘go’.