Meaning

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

  "The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild."

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

  "This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants."

• A later evolutionary type.

  "Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves."

• A language that is descended from another.

  "English and Scots are the descendants of Old English."

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

Meaning

• Descending from a biological ancestor.

• Proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.