progenitors
Those who came before
Progenitors are ancestors or forebears—those from whom a person, family, or lineage descends.
The term often suggests founders or originators: the progenitors of modern democracy, She traced her family back to its earliest progenitors.
Beyond bloodlines, progenitor extends to anything that gives rise to something else: a progenitor species, a progenitor cell, the progenitors of a literary movement.
Ancestral family members
- forefathersAncestral predecessors
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- bloodlineAncestry through generations
genealogy · heritage · pedigree · patriarchs · matriarchs · primogenitor · sires · dams
Those who create first
- creatorsOnes who originate
- establishersThose who create institutions
- architectsBuilding design professionals
- initiatorsThose who launch actions
framers · fathers · mothers · begetters · patrons · developers · organizers · founding fathers
Those who open territory
- forerunnersThose preceding others
- pathfindersThose who discover routes
- groundbreakersInnovators who start trends
- vanguardsLeaders of new movements
precursors · harbingers · early adopters · innovators · visionaries · explorers · discoverers · revolutionaries
Undifferentiated cells with regenerative potential
- germ cellsCells for sexual reproduction
- gametesReproductive cells for fusion
- zygoteFirst embryonic cell
- breeding stockAnimals used for reproduction
forebears
Ancestral family members
- forefathersAncestral predecessors
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- ancestryFamily line of descent
bloodline · genealogy · heritage · pedigree · patriarchs · matriarchs · primogenitor · sires · dams · kinfolk
originators
Those who create first
- creatorsOnes who originate
- establishersThose who create institutions
- architectsBuilding design professionals
initiators · framers · fathers · mothers · begetters · patrons · developers · organizers · founding fathers · founding mothers
trailblazers
Those who open territory
- forerunnersThose preceding others
- pathfindersThose who discover routes
- groundbreakersInnovators who start trends
vanguards · precursors · harbingers · early adopters · innovators · visionaries · explorers · discoverers · revolutionaries · avant-garde
stem cells
Undifferentiated cells with regenerative potential
- germ cellsCells for sexual reproduction
- gametesReproductive cells for fusion
- zygoteFirst embryonic cell
breeding stock · seed plants · mother plants · rootstock · spawners
- ancestorsancestor, ancestors, forebears, forebear, forbear
- ancestryancestors, kinship, ancestor, clan, ancestry
- family historygenealogy, ancestry, ancestor, ancestors, descendant
- foundersfounders, founder, co-founders, cofounders, co-founder
- lineageancestry, royal dynasties, bloodline, noble houses, dynasty
- trailblazerstrailblazers, pioneers, innovators, groundbreakers, forerunners