descendant

From Middle English dessendaunte, borrowed from Middle French, from Latin dēscendēns, present participle of descendere, from dē + scandere (“to climb, ascend”).

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛndənt/

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• Hyphenation: des‧cen‧dant

descendant (not comparable)

1. Descending; going down.

   The elevator resumed its descendant trajectory.

   • 1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, page 14:

     Eagle descendant, or descending. See DESCENDANT, and Pl. 22, fig. 6. Eagle descendant, displayed. See Pl. 22, fig. 7. Eagle displayed, recursant. See DISPLAYED RECURSANT, and Pl. 22, […]

   • 1984, Charles A. Ravenstein, Air Force combat wings: lineage and honors histories 1947-1977, DIANE Publishing, →ISBN, page 259:

     Azure, surmounting a cloud argent, an American eagle descendant, wings endorsed proper, between his beak four lightning streaks, […]

2. Descending from a biological ancestor.

   Power in the kingdom is transferred in a descendant manner.

3. Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

• descendent

• ascendant, ascendent, ascending
• (antonym(s) of “heraldry”): montant

• descendancy

descendant (plural descendants)

1. One of the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.

   The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.

2. (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.

   This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.

3. (biology) A later evolutionary type.

   Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.

4. (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.

   English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.

5. (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.

   Synonyms: reflex, derivative

   Antonym: etymon

   Coordinate term: cognate

   • 1993, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ē-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi, Reiner Lipp, editors, Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 479:

     The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. nȍsī, dȍnosī.

6. (astrology) The intersection of the western (setting) horizon and the ecliptic, its ecliptical longitude; the astrological sign it corresponds to.

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

• (offspring): afterbear, offspring, scion, and see Thesaurus:child & relative

• ascendant
• ancestor
• forebear

• direct descendant
• indirect descendant

• offspring
• offshoot
• progeny

Borrowed from Latin dēscendentem, the present participle of dēscendere, itself from dē + scandere (“climb, ascend”).

• IPA^(key): /de.sɑ̃.dɑ̃/

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descendant

1. present participle of descendre
2. (preceded by en) gerund of descendre

descendant m (plural descendants, feminine descendante)

1. a descendant; one who is the progeny of someone at any distance of time; e.g. a child; a grandchild, etc.

• ancêtre m
• ascendant m

descendant (feminine descendante, masculine plural descendants, feminine plural descendantes)

1. (which is) descending

   Antonyms: ascendant, montant

• compatibilité descendante

• descendance
• descendre

• “descendant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

dēscendant

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō