parentage

Everyday

1. Your parentage is who your parents are. tree →
2. It can also mean the family or country your parents come from, your origin. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and stories it is a slightly formal word for where someone comes from; old stories may make a mystery of a hero's parentage. In science, a plant or animal's parentage is which parents it was bred from. Phrases: of mixed parentage, of Irish parentage, unknown parentage.

Examples

• The orphan in the story did not know his parentage. tree →
• She is of Irish and Jamaican parentage. tree →
• The puppy's parentage was written on its papers. tree →
• The prince's true parentage was a secret. tree →
• Scientists checked the parentage of the new apple tree. tree →
• Nobody should be judged by their parentage. tree →
• But some of those who remembered Brah’s parentage thought that as Bran herself had come from the Shi so this fawn might have come out of the Shi also. tree →

Note

Usually uncountable: no «a», no plural. Formal; in everyday talk people say «who your parents are» or «family background». Do not confuse with «parenting», which means looking after and raising children.