genealogical

Etymology

It is borrowed from French généalogique (“genealogical”) with the English suffix -al added,^[2][3][4] the French adjective being formed from généalogie (“genealogy”) with the suffix -ique.^[5][6] The Oxford Dictionary of English traces the French word through Medieval Latin to Greek,^[7] and the OED gives the chain as Medieval Latin geneālogicus, from Ancient Greek γενεαλογικός (genealogikós, “of genealogy”), from γενεαλόγος (genealógos, “genealogist”).^[2] Klein takes it from the Greek adjective directly, with the suffix -al.^[8] The noun genealogy is from γενεαλογία (genealogía, “the making of a pedigree”), formed from γενεά (geneá, “race, generation, descent”) and -λογία (-logía).^[3][2] An earlier adjective of the same meaning, genealogial, formed from the Middle English noun, is recorded in Bokenham's lives of saints in 1447.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Belonging to genealogy, or tracing the descent of a family: 1587, in the new edition of Holinshed's history of England.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1570s,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has kept its first meaning, relating to genealogy or exhibiting the succession of descendants from an ancestor.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as relating to descents or families and to the history of the successions of houses.^[10] The genealogical tree, a table showing the relation of ancestors to descendants in the form of a branching tree, is recorded in the OED and the Shorter Oxford under the adjective.^[2][4] The shorter form genealogic, taken directly from French, followed in 1765, in Horace Walpole,^[2] and Merriam-Webster lists it as a less common variant.^[5]

Timeline

• 1447 – the earlier form genealogial, in Bokenham.^[9]
• 1587 – relating to genealogy; tracing family descent.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to genealogy, the study and tracing of family descent: The archive holds genealogical records going back to the 1700s.^[5][2][4]
2. Showing the line of descent from an ancestor: a genealogical table of the royal house.^[2][3]
3. genealogical tree: a family tree, a diagram of a family's generations drawn as a branching tree.^[4][2]

Word family

• nongenealogical
• genealogically

Related words

• genealogy
• genealogist
• genealogic
• generation
• -logy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.