paternal line
Dad's family tree
The paternal line traces ancestry through fathers—from a person to their father, to their father's father, and so on.
In genetics, the Y chromosome passes exclusively through the paternal line, making it useful for tracing male ancestry: DNA testing revealed his paternal line originated in West Africa.
Contrast with maternal line.
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- family treeChart of ancestors
- old manElderly male person
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
- blood relativeFamily by biological descent
next of kin · surname · inheritance · hereditary · genealogy · forefathers · descent · clan · dynasty · Y-chromosome · begat · sire · firstborn · legacy · passing down · heir · progenitor · male
- kinshipmother, sister, brother, children, parent
- lineageancestry, royal dynasties, bloodline, noble houses, dynasty
- genealogyfamily trees, family history, descendants, ancestors, ancestry tracing
- DNA ancestryancestry test, DNA test, DNA match, genetic genealogy, haplogroup
- parentageparentage, maternity, motherhood, natural parent, parenthood
- paternal lineagepatrilineage, paterfamilias, forefather, progenitor, sire
paternal linematernal line
Ancestry traced through mothers
mother's side · maternal lineage · maternal bloodline · matrilineage · mother's line
paternal, paternally, paternalism, paternalistic, paternity, patriarch, patriarchy, patriarchal, patrician