descendants
Those who follow
Descendants are the people who come after someone in a family line—children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on through generations.
The word extends beyond biology: descendants of enslaved people, intellectual descendants of Marx.
Anything that derives from an earlier form can be called a descendant: Spanish is a descendant of Latin.
One's biological descendants
- offspringBiological descendants produced
- childrenYoung human beings
- grandchildrenOffspring of offspring
- great-grandchildrenGrandkids' offspring
heirs · scions · issue · posterity · lineage · bloodline · genealogy · family tree
Future generations collectively
- successorsThose who follow after
- inheritorsThose who receive legacies
- continuationAct of proceeding further
- traditionCustom passed through generations
future generations · heritage · standard-bearers · followers · disciples
Biological descendants produced
- youngNot yet mature
- progenyOne's biological descendants
- broodHatchlings as a group
- spawnAquatic eggs or generate
issue · litter · fledglings · cubs · pups · kittens · calves · foals
Those who inherit
- beneficiariesThose who receive advantages
- inheritorsThose who receive legacies
- legateesRecipients of bequests
- deviseesRecipients of bequeathed property
succession · estate · bequest · will · testament · probate · patrimony · birthright
Finest taxonomic rank
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
- speciationFormation of distinct species
- cladogramDiagram of evolutionary branching
adaptation · mutation · common ancestor · divergence · radiation · fossil record · morphology · homology
progeny
One's biological descendants
- offspringBiological descendants produced
- childrenYoung human beings
- grandchildrenOffspring of offspring
great-grandchildren · heirs · scions · issue · posterity · lineage · bloodline · genealogy · family tree · kinfolk
posterity
Future generations collectively
- successorsThose who follow after
- inheritorsThose who receive legacies
- continuationAct of proceeding further
future generations · tradition · heritage · standard-bearers · followers · disciples
offspring
Biological descendants produced
spawn · issue · litter · fledglings · cubs · pups · kittens · calves · foals · piglets
heirs
Those who inherit
- beneficiariesThose who receive advantages
- inheritorsThose who receive legacies
- legateesRecipients of bequests
devisees · succession · estate · bequest · will · testament · probate · patrimony · birthright · primogeniture
species
Finest taxonomic rank
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
- speciationFormation of distinct species
cladogram · adaptation · mutation · common ancestor · divergence · radiation · fossil record · morphology · homology · DNA
- kinshipmother, father, sister, brother, children
- familiesnuclear family, extended family, blended family, stepfamily, single-parent family
- family dramafamily bonds, sibling rivalry, family reunion, kinship, family secret
- family historygenealogy, ancestry, ancestor, ancestors, lineage
- kinfolkkin, kindred, kinfolk, kinsmen, relatives
- lineageancestry, royal dynasties, bloodline, noble houses, dynasty
descendantsancestors
Those from whom one descends
ancestor · forebears · forefathers · progenitors · antecedents
descendantsroots
Underground nutrient absorbers
antecedents · source · root · origin · precursors
- direct descendantAncestor's biological successor
- slave descendantsPeople whose ancestors were enslaved