Link Centre Dictionary

forefather

fo·re·fat·her

UK/ˈfɔːˌfɑːðə/ US/ˈfɔɹˌfɑːðɚ/ uncommon

noun

1.

the founder of a family

  • “keep the faith of our forefathers”
Synonyms
2.

person from an earlier time who contributed to the tradition shared by some group

  • “our forefathers brought forth a great nation”

Origin

From Middle English forefader, forfader, vorvader, from Old English forefæder (“forefather”), but possibly also merged with Old Norse forfaðir. Equivalent to fore- + father. Compare Dutch voorvader (“forefather”), German Vorvater, Vorfahr (“forefather”), Danish forfader (“forefather”), Swedish förfader (“forefather”).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.