From Middle English forefader, forfader, vorvader, from Old English fōrefæder, but possibly also merged with Old Norse forfaðir.

• (RP) enPR: fôʹfä'thə, IPA: /ˈfɔːˌfɑːðə/
• (America) enPR: fôrʹfä'thər, IPA: /ˈfɔɹˌfɑːðɚ/

forefather (plural forefathers)

1. Ancestor
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗:

     His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.

2. Cultural ancestor; one who originated an idea or tradition.

• French: aïeul, ancêtre
• German: Vorfahre
• Italian: avo, ascendente, antenato, progenitore
• Portuguese: antepassado
• Russian: пре́док
• Spanish: ancestro, antepasado, ascendiente, predecesor