descend

Definitions

de- (down) + scend (climb) = climb down. The literal sense is straightforward motion downward. The big leap is genealogical: if you trace a family 'downward' from an ancestor through each generation, you follow a line of descent — so 'be descended from' means to come down that family line. A separate idiom, descend on a place, pictures a crowd 'coming down' onto it all at once.

Why It Means This

The same word splits into two very different worlds. Physically, anything can descend: a plane, a hiker, the sun. Genealogically, descend reverses your viewpoint — instead of children springing up from parents, the family is imagined flowing downward like water, so the people at the bottom are 'descended from' those at the top. That is why a noble can be 'descended from kings' but a king is never 'descended from' his own grandchildren.

Common Collocations

• 1.descend from源自，是…的后裔
• 2.descend to下降至，沦为
• 3.descend on/upon蜂拥到，突然降临
• 4.descend into chaos陷入混乱

Example Sentences

• 1.

  The plane began to descend as it approached the airport.

• 2.

  We descended the narrow staircase into the cellar.

• 3.

  She is descended from a long line of farmers.

• 4.

  Tourists descend on the village every summer.