progeny

prog·e·ny
P3R1O1G2E1N1Y4
UK/ˈpɹɒd͡ʒəni/US/ˈpɹɑd͡ʒəni/

noun

Offspring or descendants considered as a group.

“His dissertation is his most important intellectual progeny to date.”

Less commonScrabble 13

Meanings

nounprogeny (countable and uncountable, plural progenies)

plural progenies

  1. uncountableOffspring or descendants considered as a group.

    I treasure this five-generation photograph of my great-great grandmother and her progeny.

    2 more examples

    I should premise that I use the term Struggle for Existence in a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another, and including (which is more important) not only the life of the individual, but success in leaving progeny.

    1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

    One worm on a single plate can give rise to thousands of progeny after just a week or so.

    2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 88

    Synonyms: binary clone, descendant(s), fruit of one's loins, get, issue, lineage, offspring

  2. obsoleteuncountableDescent, lineage, ancestry.

    Beſides, all French and France exclaimes on thee, / Doubting thy Birth and lawfull Progenie. / Who ioyn’ſt thou with, but with a Lordly Nation, / That will not truſt thee, but for profits ſake ?

    1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 109, column 1
  3. countablefigurativelyA result of a creative effort.

    His dissertation is his most important intellectual progeny to date.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounOffspring or descendants considered as a group.

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe immediate descendants of a person

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinprōgeniēs
  2. Old Frenchprogenie
  3. Middle Englishprogenie
  4. Englishprogeny

From Middle English progenie, from Old French progenie, from Latin prōgeniēs, from prōgignō (“beget”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic نَسْل, سَلِيل
  • نَسْل (nasl)offspring
  • سَلِيل (salīl)offspring
  • ذُرِّيَّة (ḏurriyya)offspring
Bengali আওলাদ, ফরজন্দ
  • আওলাদ (aōlad)offspring
  • ফরজন্দ (fôrzônd)offspring
Bulgarian потомство, изход
  • потомство (potomstvo)offspring
  • изход (izhod)result of a creative effort
  • резултат (rezultat)result of a creative effort
Catalan progènie, progenitura
  • progènieoffspring
  • progenituraoffspring
Chinese Mandarin 後嗣 /后嗣, 後代 /后代
  • 後嗣 /后嗣 (hòusì)offspring
  • 後代 /后代 (hòudài)offspring
  • 子孫 /子孙 (zǐsūn)offspring
  • 後裔 /后裔 (hòuyì)offspring
Czech potomstvo
  • potomstvooffspring
Danish afkom
  • afkomoffspring
Dutch nakomeling, afstammelingen
  • nakomelingoffspring
  • afstammelingenoffspring
Esperanto idaro
  • idarooffspring
Finnish jälkeläiset, jälkikasvu
  • jälkeläisetoffspring
  • jälkikasvuoffspring
  • saavutusresult of a creative effort
  • aikaansaannosresult of a creative effort
  • tuotosresult of a creative effort
French descendant, progéniture
  • descendantoffspring
  • progénitureoffspring
  • descendanceoffspring
German Nachkommen, Nachfahren
  • Nachkommenoffspring
  • Nachfahrenoffspring
  • Nachkommenschaftoffspring
  • Werkresult of a creative effort
  • Schaffenresult of a creative effort
Hebrew צאצא
  • צאצא (tze'etza)offspring
Hindi संतान, वंशज
  • संतान (santān)offspring
  • वंशज (vañśaj)offspring
Hungarian leszármazott, sarj
  • leszármazottoffspring
  • sarjoffspring
  • ivadékoffspring
  • utódoffspring
Icelandic afkvæmi, afsprengi
  • afkvæmioffspring
  • afsprengioffspring
  • afkomandioffspring
Irish clann
  • clannoffspring
Italian progenie
  • progenieoffspring
Japanese 子孫, 子種
  • 子孫 (shison)offspring
  • 子種 (kodane)offspring
Korean 자손, 후예
  • 자손 (jason)offspring
  • 후예 (huye)offspring
Latin prōlēs, prōgeniēs
  • prōlēsoffspring
  • prōgeniēsoffspring
Māori aitanga
  • aitangaoffspring
Norwegian Bokmål avkom
  • avkomoffspring
Polish potomstwo, progenitura
  • potomstwooffspring
  • progenituraoffspring
Portuguese progénie, progênie
  • progénieoffspring
  • progênieoffspring
  • descendênciaoffspring
  • proleoffspring
Punjabi ਔਲਾਦ
  • ਔਲਾਦ (aulād)offspring
Romanian progenitură
  • progeniturăoffspring
Russian пото́мство, пото́мок
  • пото́мство (potómstvo)offspring
  • пото́мок (potómok)offspring
  • детище (detišče)result of a creative effort
  • плод (plod)result of a creative effort
Spanish descendiente
  • descendienteoffspring
Swedish avkomma, ättlingar
  • avkommaoffspring
  • ättlingaroffspring
  • resultatresult of a creative effort
  • alsterresult of a creative effort
Tagalog kaapuhan
  • kaapuhanoffspring
Welsh epil
  • epiloffspring

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

progeny. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/progeny

MLA

“progeny.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/progeny. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “progeny,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/progeny.

Source: progeny on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.