Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

common ancestor

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.48 in modern English

Syllables: com-mon ances-tor
IPA

22

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An ancestor that two or more descendants have in common.

Example Sentences

"The monarchs of Spain and the UK have a common ancestor namely Queen Victoria."
"The chimpanzee and the gorilla have a common ancestor."
"The theory of evolution states that all life on Earth has a common ancestor."

Inflected Forms

common ancestors (plural)

Phrases

last common ancestor

Questions

What does common ancestor mean?: An ancestor that two or more descendants have in common.

How to pronounce common ancestor

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “common ancestor”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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