forebear
nounUK /ˈfɔːbeə/
US /ˈfɔːrber/
A forebear is a family member who lived a long time before you.
My great-great-grandmother is a forebear I never met.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A person from whom a family or group is descended, often honored for their role in history.
The town's founders are the forebears of many current residents.
3. An earlier model or version of something that later things developed from.
This old steam engine is a forebear of modern trains.
4. A person in the past who helped shape a tradition or idea.
The scientists of the 1800s are the forebears of today's medicine.