Meanings
- uncountablegenealogyThe phenomenon in which ancestral inbreeding causes the number of a descendant’s distinct ancestors to be smaller than that predicted by a binary tree (∑ᵢ₌₁ⁿ 2ⁱ, where n represents the number of generations).
1 more example
Less well-known is the argument that we may all have a single mitochondrial foundress — not necessarily a single ancestress — owing to the likelihood of ‘lineage extinction’ and ‘pedigree collapse’ as a result of mating with cousins, small population sizes, and high mortality before reproductive age.
1989, Jonathan Benthall, “The ‘Annual Review’ 1988 Reviewed: He but There-to Come(s) No(t) / Which-Who Fear(s) Deep Water”, in Anthropology Today, V, № 5 (October 1989), page 16
Origin
Coined by Robert C. Gunderson.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French implexe
- implexephenomenon in genealogy
German Ahnenschwund
- Ahnenschwundphenomenon in genealogy
Polish ubytek przodków
- ubytek przodkówphenomenon in genealogy
Swedish anförlust
- anförlustphenomenon in genealogy
Cite this entry
pedigree collapse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedigree%20collapse
“pedigree collapse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedigree%20collapse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pedigree collapse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedigree%20collapse.
Source: pedigree collapse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.