different between forefather vs forebear

English

Etymology

From Middle English forefader, forfader, vorvader, from Old English f?refæder (“forefather”), but possibly also merged with Old Norse forfaðir. Equivalent to fore- +? father. Compare Dutch voorvader (“forefather”), German Vorvater, Vorfahr (“forefather”), Danish forfader (“forefather”), Swedish förfader (“forefather”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fô?fä'th?, IPA^(key): /?f???f??ð?/
• (General American) enPR: fôr?fä'th?r, IPA^(key): /?f???f??ð?/

Noun

forefather (plural forefathers)

1. Ancestor.^Wp

   • His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.

2. Cultural ancestor; one who originated an idea or tradition.

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• forbear

Etymology

Late 15th century, from fore- +? beer (“one who is or exists”, literally “be-er”).

Noun

forebear (plural forebears)

1. An ancestor.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 566:

     One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding.

   • [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.

     Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold […]

   • [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [1]

     One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with: forbear verb.

Antonyms

• afterbear

Translations

Verb

forebear (third-person singular simple present forebears, present participle forebearing, simple past forebore, past participle foreborne)

1. Obsolete spelling of forbear

Anagrams

• forbeare