Meaning & use
genealogist
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person who researches and records the history of families, tracing who their ancestors and relatives were.
Grammar: Takes a/the and a plural: a genealogist, several genealogists.
Patterns
- a genealogist who traces something
- hire a genealogist
A genealogist helped us discover that my great-grandfather came from Poland.
The genealogist searched parish records and old census forms.
She became an amateur genealogist after finding a box of old photographs.
Word forms
| plural | genealogists |
|---|
Common combinations
- professional genealogist
- A professional genealogist can read old handwriting that most people cannot.
- amateur genealogist
- As an amateur genealogist, he spends evenings on archive websites.
- hire a genealogist
- They hired a genealogist to confirm the family legend.
- genealogist traces
- The genealogist traces the family back to the 1700s.
- certified genealogist
- A certified genealogist must pass formal exams.
Synonyms and how they differ
- family historian
- Family historian is plainer and often describes a hobbyist, while genealogist sounds more technical or professional.
- ancestry researcher
- Ancestry researcher is a descriptive phrase and less established as a job title than genealogist.
- archivist
- An archivist looks after historical records in general, not specifically to trace families.
Word family
- genealogy noun
- the study or record of family descent
- genealogical adjective
- relating to family descent
- genealogically adverb
- in a way that relates to ancestry
- geneology noun
- a common misspelling of genealogy
Commonly confused: genealogist or geologist?
genealogist vs geologist
A geologist studies rocks and the Earth, not family history; the words look alike but are unrelated.
Practice
Who would you most likely ask to find out which village your great-great-grandparents lived in?
Choose one answer.
A genealogist traces family history. An archaeologist studies ancient remains, and a geologist studies rocks.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “genealogist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.