Noun

(en noun)

The beginning of something.

The source of a river, information, goods, etc.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith

, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}

(mathematics) The point at which the axes of a coordinate system intersect.

(anatomy) The proximal end of attachment of a muscle to a bone that will not be moved by the action of that muscle.

(cartography) An arbitrary point on the earth's surface, chosen as the zero for a system of coordinates.

(in the plural) Ancestry.

Noun

(en noun)

One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}

An earlier type; a progenitor

(legal) One from whom an estate has descended;—the correlative of heir.

(figuratively) One who had the same role or function in former times.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC Sport

, title= Wolverhampton 1-2 Newcastle , passage=The Magpies are unbeaten and enjoying their best run since 1994, although few would have thought the class of 2011 would come close to emulating their ancestors .}}