A pedigree is a record of an animal's or a family's ancestors. It also means the family line itself.
What Does Pedigree Mean?
A pedigree shows who someone's parents, grandparents and earlier family were. It is most often used for animals, especially dogs and cats that are bred on purpose.
The puppy has a pedigree that goes back to several champion dogs.
You can also use pedigree as an adjective for an animal that has a known, recorded family.
They own a pedigree cat with a long list of ancestors.
And here's the odd part: the word probably began as a picture of a bird's foot.
🔊 Pronunciation
PED-ih-gree
The stress is on the first part: PED. The end rhymes with tree and free.
🗣️ Natural Examples
Our neighbour's dog has a pedigree longer than my homework.
The breeder gave us a paper that showed the puppy's pedigree.
The family has a proud pedigree that goes back hundreds of years.
Is your cat a pedigree, or just a very fancy rescue?
The show only allows pedigree dogs.
🛠️ How to Use It
- As a noun: a pedigree, the pedigree, a long pedigree.
- As an adjective, before a noun: a pedigree dog, a pedigree cat.
- With of: the pedigree of the horse.
- It's mostly used for animals. For people, family tree, ancestry and family history are more usual.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- a pedigree dog
- a pedigree cat
- a long pedigree
- a proud pedigree
- trace the pedigree
- a pedigree certificate
🌳 Word Family
- pedigree (noun, adjective): the record, or having a known record. A pedigree dog.
- pedigreed (adjective): the same meaning, more formal. A pedigreed horse.
👯 Similar and Related Words
- family tree: a diagram of a family's members and how they are related.
- ancestry: the people in your family who lived before you.
- lineage: a line of ancestors, often a long one.
- breed: a particular kind of animal, such as a beagle.
- purebred: an animal whose parents are both the same breed.
The difference: a breed is the kind of animal. A pedigree is the record of its family.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Spelling.
❌ pedigrey, pedegree, pedigre
✅ pedigree
A pedigree is a record, not a breed.
❌ My dog's pedigree is a beagle.
✅ My dog's breed is a beagle. His pedigree shows his ancestors.
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: Does your dog have a pedigree?
Mia: Yes. It goes back six generations.
Sam: Wow. Who was the first?
Mia: A very fluffy cloud.
Sam: That's not a dog.
Mia: Neither is mine, to be honest. But the paper says pedigree.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
Pedigree came into English in the early 1400s, with an older spelling. It came from an Anglo-French phrase, pe de gru, which means "foot of a crane".
A crane is a tall bird with long legs and thin, spread-out toes. Why a crane's foot? The most likely answer is the shape. In old handwritten books, a forked mark with branching lines was used to show a family line. It looked like a crane's footprint.
The origin isn't certain, though. Dictionaries call the crane's foot the best guess, but nobody is completely sure. The word was later used for animals' ancestry, around 1600.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Look at the start: ped. It echoes the old word for "foot" (French pied, Latin pes), the same root as in pedal and pedestrian.
A pedigree is a "foot of a crane": the branching mark that grew into a family tree. When you see ped, think foot.