ancestry vs descendant

ancestry

noun
  • A series of ancestors or progenitors; lineage, or those who compose the line of natural descent. 

  • Condition as to ancestors; ancestral lineage; hence, birth or honorable descent. 

descendant

noun
  • A later evolutionary type. 

  • A language that is descended from another. 

  • A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language. 

  • One of the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations. 

  • A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source. 

adj
  • Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source. 

  • Descending; going down 

  • Descending from a biological ancestor. 

How often have the words ancestry and descendant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )