(ˈ)an|sestrəl, -aan- adjective
Etymology: earlier auncestrell, from Middle French ancestrel, from ancestre + -el -al
1.
a. : of or belonging to an ancestor or ancestors
ancestral portraits
ancestral ideas no longer valid
b. : inherited or derived from an ancestor or ancestors
ancestral estates
2. : being, serving as, or of the nature of a forerunner, prototype, or precursor
an ancestral language
a second pre-Phoenician alphabet is clearly not ancestral to the Phoenician — A.L.Kroeber
• an·ces·tral·ly adverb