■ noun
1》 the record of descent of an animal, showing it to be pure-bred.
2》 a person's lineage or ancestry.
↘a genealogical table.
3》 the history or provenance of a person or thing.
Derivatives
~d adjective
Word History
Pedigree comes from Old French pé de grue , which literally meant 'crane's foot'. The development of the modern meaning (recorded from the 17th century) arose from a mark used to denote succession in ~s or family trees, which had three branching lines and was likened to a bird's foot. The first, medieval sense of ~ in English was 'family tree, genealogical table'.