genealogy

genealogy — 名詞

1. The practice of investigating and recording each person in a family line across

1.名詞B2
釋義

系譜學

研究家族祖先歷史的學科

The practice of investigating and recording each person in a family line across earlier generations — their names, life events, and how they connect to people alive today.

例句

Sofia has spent years studying the genealogy of her mother's side of the family.

Sofia 花了多年時間研究她母親那方的家族系譜。

the genealogy of + [family/group]

Public records helped Defne trace her genealogy back to the nineteenth century.

公共記錄幫助 Defne 將她的族系追溯到了十九世紀。

trace one's genealogy back to [time]

同義詞
  • family history

    More personal and narrative; often used by hobbyists rather than academics

  • ancestry

    Focuses on ethnic or national origins rather than the systematic tracing of individual relatives

  • lineage

    More formal and narrow; refers specifically to the direct line of descent, often in legal or hereditary contexts

文法句型

the genealogy of + family/group

genealogy + noun (research, database, course)

用法筆記

Uncountable when talking about the discipline ('Genealogy is becoming more popular'). Countable when referring to the specific lines of descent ('They traced three different genealogies from the same village'). Often used with 'of' to specify whose family history is under study.

常見錯誤

❌She studied her family's genetics to find out who her great-grandparents were.
✅She studied her family's genealogy to find out who her great-grandparents were.
💡Genetics is the biological study of inherited traits; genealogy is the historical study of family relationships and records.
❌I am doing a genealogy tree for my school project.
✅I am doing a genealogy for my school project.' or 'I am doing a family tree for my school project.
💡A genealogy already contains the idea of a tree-like chart; 'genealogy tree' is redundant.

2. A drawing or diagram that uses lines and branches to show how the members of a f

2.名詞B2
釋義

族譜

用線條連接家族成員的圖表

A drawing or diagram that uses lines and branches to show how the members of a family across several generations are related to one another, usually with names and sometimes dates.

例句

Wren drew a simple genealogy showing four generations of his family for a school project.

Wren 為了學校作業畫了一份簡單的族譜，呈現了他家四代成員。

draw a genealogy showing [number] generations

The museum displayed a genealogy of the royal family tracing back to the seventeenth century.

博物館展示了一份可追溯至十七世紀的皇室族譜。

a genealogy of + [family/group] tracing back to [time]

同義詞
  • family tree

    More common in everyday language; usually drawn in a tree-like shape with fewer details than a formal genealogy

  • pedigree

    Used for animals or formal hereditary lines; sounds unnatural for a typical human family

文法句型

draw/create a genealogy

a genealogy of + family/group

show/display + genealogy

用法筆記

Countable noun — you can have one genealogy or several genealogies. A genealogy chart is similar to a family tree, but genealogy charts often include more detailed information (dates, places, notes) arranged in a structured diagram rather than a tree shape.

常見錯誤

❌The dog's genealogy shows champion bloodlines going back five generations.
✅The dog's pedigree shows champion bloodlines going back five generations.
💡Pedigree is the standard term for animal breeding lines; genealogy is typically used for human families.