Meaning

noun the founder of a family

noun person from an earlier time who contributed to the tradition shared by some group

originFrom Middle English forefader, forfader, vorvader, from Old English forefæder (“forefather”), but possibly also merged with Old Norse forfaðir. Equivalent to fore- + father. Compare Dutch voorvader (“forefather”), German Vorvater, Vorfahr (“forefather”), Danish forfader (“forefather”), Swedish förfader (“forefather”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0