foremother

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ mother.

Noun

foremother (plural foremothers)

1. A female ancestor.
2. (figurative) A female predecessor, especially one of an earlier generation.
   • 1990 April 28, Patricia Roth Schwartz, “The Odd Couple”, in Gay Community News, page 7:

     This compelling narrative [The Other Sappho by Ellen Fry] is a historical romance, a colorful tapestry of a time gone by in which the author has endeavored to share her version of the lives of women-identified women who were our foremothers.

Translations

a female ancestor

• Armenian: նախամայր (hy) (naxamayr)
• Czech: pramatka f, pramáti f
• Dutch: voormoeder f
• German: Ahne (de) f, Ahnin (de) f, Vorfahrin (de) f, Urahne (de) f, Urmutter f, Stammmutter f, Ahnfrau (de) f (obsolescent)
• Polish: pramatka (pl) f, antenatka f (literary)
• Russian: прама́терь (ru) f (pramáterʹ)
• Swedish: förmoder (sv) c, anmoder (sv) c, stammoder (sv) c, ättemoder (sv) c
• Volapük: jibüröletan (vo)

See also

• great great great grandmother