[mass noun]lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree 直系;祖系,家系 ■[count noun](Anthropology)a social group tracing its descent from a single ancestor (人类学)家族谱系
[count noun](Biology)a sequence of species each of which is considered to have evolved from its predecessor (生)血统,谱系 the chimpanzee and gorilla lineages. 黑猩猩和大猩猩的血统。 ■a sequence of cells in the body which developed from a common ancestral cell 细胞谱系 the myeloid lineage. 骨髓细胞谱系。
语源
Middle English: from Old French lignage, from Latin linea 'a line' (see line)