forebear
/ˈfɔːbɛː
/(also forbear)
noun (usually one's forebears)
An ancestor: generations of his forebears had lived in London...
- One cannot hope to rise or succeed in the world unless one's forebears had the requisite abilities.
- It does not really take very much time over a family lunch to begin to enquire about one's forebears.
- I'm sorry, your forebears must have lived in a parallel universe to mine. Is this the Victorian age of the Little Match Girl?
Synonyms
ancestor, forefather, predecessor, progenitor, father, grandfather, parent, grandparent;
antecedent, forerunner, precursor
rare primogenitor
Origin
Late 15th century: from fore + bear, variant of obsolete beer 'someone who exists' (from be + -er1).