genealogy

English

Alternative forms

• geneology (common misspelling)

Etymology

From Middle English genealogie, genologie, genelogie, from Old French genealogie (Modern French généalogie), from Late Latin genealogia, from Ancient Greek γενεαλογία (genealogía), from γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”) + -λογία (-logía, “study of”), equivalent to Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá) +‎ -logy.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌd͡ʒiniˈɑlədʒi/, /ˌd͡ʒiniˈælədʒi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdʒiːniˈælədʒi/, (sometimes proscribed) /ˌdʒiːniˈɒlədʒi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ge‧ne‧al‧o‧gy

Noun

genealogy (countable and uncountable, plural genealogies)

1. (countable) The descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; lineage or pedigree.
   • 2004 October 24, Bill Gladstone, “The oldest family in the world”, in Jewish Telegraphic Agency‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 September 2021:

     The book significantly extends on Rosenstein’s monumental 1990 work, “The Unbroken Chain,” which focused on the genealogies of the major Ashkenazi rabbinic dynasties from medieval times to the present.

2. (countable) A record or table of such descent; a family tree.
3. (uncountable) The study, and formal recording of such descents.
   • 2026 February 19, Andy Rose, “With no initial DNA match, Guthrie investigators turn to one of their newest tools to crack cases: genetic genealogy”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 10 March 2026:

     “Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

Synonyms

• pedigree

Related terms

• genealogical
• genealogically
• genealogist
• genealogize

Translations

descent of a person, family or group from ancestors — see also ancestry

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: родосло́вие (bg) n (rodoslóvie)
• Catalan: genealogia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 血統 / 血统 (zh) (xuètǒng)

• Czech: genealogie (cs) f
• Danish: slægtsforskning n
• Dutch: stamboom (nl)
• Esperanto: genealogio
• Finnish: sukupuu (fi)
• French: généalogie (fr) f
• Galician: xenealoxía (gl) f
• Georgian: გენეალოგია (ka) (genealogia)
• German: Abstammung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 n (gabaurþiwaurd)
• Greek: γενεαλογία (el) f (genealogía)

  Ancient Greek: γενεᾱλογῐ́ᾱ f (geneālogĭ́ā)

• Hungarian: származás (hu), leszármazás (hu)
• Irish: ginealach m
• Italian: genealogia (it) f
• Japanese: 系統 (ja) (keitō)
• Kazakh: ру тарихы (ruw tarıyxı)
• Korean: 혈통(血統) (ko) (hyeoltong)
• Ladino: jenealojia
• Latvian: ģenealoģija f
• Lithuanian: genealogija f
• Macedonian: родословие n (rodoslovie)
• Māori: whāwhārua (via the female line), taotahi (via a single line), kōhikohiko (via selected ancestors only), whakapapa
• Middle English: genelogie, kynrede
• Norman: généalogie f
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Häakunft f
• Polish: genealogia (pl) f, rodowód (pl) m
• Portuguese: genealogia (pt) f
• Russian: генеало́гия (ru) f (genealógija), родосло́вная (ru) f (rodoslóvnaja), родосло́вие (ru) n (rodoslóvije)
• Scottish Gaelic: sloinntearachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: rodoslovlje (sh) n, genealogija (sh) f

• Spanish: genealogía (es) f
• Swedish: härkomst (sv)
• Tagalog: henealohiya, talaangkanan
• Tamil: பேர்வழி (ta) (pērvaḻi)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: achau f pl, achyddiaeth f

record or table of such descent

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: genealogia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 系譜 / 系谱 (zh) (xìpǔ), 族譜 / 族谱 (zh) (zúpǔ), 家譜 / 家谱 (zh) (jiāpǔ)

• Czech: genealogický strom m, rozrod m
• Dutch: kwartierstaat, parenteel (nl), stamreeks, stamboom (nl), genealogie (nl)
• Farefare: genealogia
• Faroese: ættarbók f (biblical), ættartal n (genealogical table)
• Finnish: sukupuu (fi)
• French: généalogie (fr) f
• Georgian: გენეალოგია (ka) (genealogia)
• German: Ahnentafel (de) f
• Hindi: वंशावली (hi) (vañśāvlī), पुश्तनामा (hi) (puśtanāmā), वंशक्रम (hi) (vañśakram), वंशवृक्ष (vañśvŕkṣ), पीढ़ीनामा (pīṛhīnāmā), कुरसीनामा (hi) (kursīnāmā), वंशानुक्रम (hi) (vañśānukram), वंशानुक्रम (hi) (vañśānukram), नसबनामा (nasabnāmā), शजरा (hi) (śajrā), शजरा-ए-नसब (śajrā-e-nasab), सिलसिला-ए-नसब (silsilā-e-nasab)
• Hungarian: családfa (hu)
• Italian: genealogia (it) f
• Japanese: 家譜 (ja) (kafu)
• Kazakh: шежіре (šejire)
• Korean: 족보(族譜) (ko) (jokbo), 계보(系譜) (ko) (gyebo), 가계(家系) (ko) (gagye), 족보(族譜) (ko) (jokbo)
• Macedonian: родословие n (rodoslovie)
• Norman: généalogie f
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: genealogia (pl) f
• Portuguese: genealogia (pt) f
• Russian: генеало́гия (ru) f (genealógija)
• Scottish Gaelic: sloinntearachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: rodoslovlje (sh) n, genealogija (sh) f

• Spanish: genealogía (es) f
• Swedish: stamtavla (sv)
• Tamil: பேர்வழி (ta) (pērvaḻi)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: achyddiaeth f, achres f

study and recording of descents

• Afrikaans: genealogie
• Albanian: gjenealogjia
• Arabic: علم الأنساب
• Armenian: ծագումնաբանություն (hy) (cagumnabanutʻyun)
• Asturian: xenealoxía
• Azerbaijani: genealogiya
• Bashkir: генеалогия (genealogiya)
• Basque: genealogia (eu)
• Belarusian: генеалогія (hjenjealóhija)
• Breton: lignezouriezh
• Bulgarian: родосло́вие (bg) n (rodoslóvie), генеалогия (bg) (genealogija)
• Catalan: genealogia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 系譜學 / 系谱学 (zh) (xìpǔxué)

  Wu: 系譜學 / 系谱学

• Chuvash: генеалоги (genealogi)
• Corsican: genealogia
• Czech: genealogie (cs) f
• Danish: genealogi (da) c
• Dhivehi: ނަސަބުގެ ޢިލްމު (nasabuge ʿilmu)
• Dutch: genealogie (nl), stamboomonderzoek (nl) n
• Esperanto: genealogio
• Estonian: genealoogia
• Farefare: genealogia
• Finnish: sukututkimus (fi)
• French: généalogie (fr) f
• Galician: xenealoxía (gl)
• Georgian: გენეალოგია (ka) (genealogia)
• German: Ahnenforschung (de) f, Genealogie (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: γενεαλογία f (genealogía)

• Hebrew: גנאלוגיה (he)
• Hindi: वंशिकी (vañśikī)
• Hungarian: genealógia (hu), származástan (hu)
• Icelandic: ættfræði f
• Ido: genealogio (io)
• Indonesian: genealogi (id)
• Irish: ginealas m
• Italian: genealogia (it) f
• Japanese: 系譜学 (けいふがく, keifugaku)
• Kazakh: генеалогия (genealogıya), тектану (tektanuw)
• Korean: 계보학 (gyebohak)
• Kyrgyz: генеалогия (genealogiya)
• Latin: genealogia
• Latvian: ģenealoģija f
• Lithuanian: genealogija f
• Macedonian: родословие n (rodoslovie)
• Malay: kaji salasilah, genealogi
• Malayalam: വംശാവലിപഠനം (vaṁśāvalipaṭhanaṁ)
• Norman: généalogie f
• Norwegian: slektsforskning

  Bokmål: genealogi m

  Nynorsk: genealogi m, slektsforsking

• Occitan: genealogia
• Pashto: نوغپوهنه (ps)
• Persian: تبارشناسی
• Picard: généalodjie
• Polish: genealogia (pl) f
• Portuguese: genealogia (pt) f
• Romanian: genealogie (ro) f
• Russian: генеало́гия (ru) f (genealógija)
• Scots: genealogy
• Scottish Gaelic: sloinntearachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Latin: rodoslovlje (sh) n, genealogija (sh) f

• Shona: unenavabari
• Sicilian: catanannu (scn)
• Slovak: genealógia
• Slovene: rodoslovje (sl)
• Spanish: genealogía (es) f
• Sundanese: généalogi
• Swedish: släktforskning (sv) c, genealogi (sv) c
• Turkish: soy bilimi (tr), jenealoji (tr)
• Turkmen: genealogiýa
• Ukrainian: генеалогія (henealohija)
• Uzbek: genealogiya (uz)
• Vietnamese: gia phả học (家譜學)
• Volapük: genealog
• Welsh: achyddiaeth f
• Yiddish: ייחוס (yikhes)

See also

• family history
• lineage