Offspring

Descendant ( female: descendant ), descendant (s), descendant or descendant term used in biology an individual that is created in the reproduction or multiplication of living beings - humans a child or whose child ( eskind ). In technical terms, the offspring is called a descent (Latin descendere " descend to meet " ) - its opposite is the ascendancy ( " climb " ): the ancestry of an individual.

While both genetic lineages of descendants of importance, human societies have different lineage rules that determine whether a child is seen as a descendant of mother and father, or only the fathers side or mothers side ancestry counts. In the European cultural space, the origin rule by either parent applies ( kognatisch - bilateral), as in most highly industrialized societies; follow this rule also around 30 percent of the 1300 world's ethnic groups and indigenous peoples.

In addition, there are legal forms of progeny, for example, an acknowledgment of paternity or adoption of a person " to the child instead ." If a deceased person has left no last will and testament ( will or an agreement ), form their descendants in the German inheritance law the so-called " first Order "of intestate succession.

In the family history (genealogy ) the progeny of a person is shown in a list offspring or descendants panel: The children follow the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandson, and so on in descending order ( see relatives and generation names).