Pedigreed

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing an animal or plant with a documented and celebrated ancestry
2. Pertaining to a lineage that is well-documented and respected for its quality or status
3. Marked by a clear and recorded family background that often implies quality or purity

Etymology: "Pedigreed" is simply "pedigree" with the suffix "-ed" attached, turning a noun into an adjective meaning "having a documented ancestry, especially one of good standing." Its roots are in the Old French "pie de grue," literally "crane's foot," a name for a three-line mark used in medieval genealogical charts to show the branching of a family line. Those diagrams, with their thin lines splaying out like a bird's foot, gave the noun its sense of a traced family tree. The adjective inherits that noun's association with careful record-keeping, and it is most often applied today to animals, especially dogs, horses and cattle, whose breeding is tracked in registries. Its use for people is the older and more literal sense of the family-tree idea, though the animal sense now dominates in everyday speech.

Synonyms: purebred, registered, lineage

Antonyms: mixed, mongrel