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==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] ''pedegru'', from Anglo-French ''pé de grue'', [[literally]], crane's foot; from the shape made by the lines of a genealogical chart
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_century 15th Century]
==Definitions==
*1: a register recording a line of [[ancestors]]
*2a : an ancestral line : [[lineage]]
:b : the [[origin]] and the [[history]] of something; broadly : background, history
*3a : a distinguished [[ancestry]]
:b : the recorded [[purity]] of breed of an [[individual]] or strain
==Description==
A '''pedigree''' chart is a [[diagram]] that shows the occurrence and [[appearance]] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenotype phenotypes] of a particular gene or [[organism]] and its [[ancestors]] from one [[generation]] to the next, most commonly humans, show [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog dogs], and race horses. The [[word]] ''pedigree'' is a corruption of the French "pied de grue" or crane's foot, because the typical lines and split lines (each split leading to [[different]] offspring of the one parent line) resemble the thin leg and foot of a crane.
==In human genealogy==
In England and Wales pedigrees are officially recorded in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Arms College of Arms], which has records going back to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages Middle Ages], including pedigrees collected during roving [[inquiries]] by its [[heralds]] during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The [[purpose]] of these [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldic_visitation heraldic visitations] was to register and regulate the use of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coats_of_arms coats of arms]. Those who claimed the right to bear arms had to provide [[proof]] either of a grant of arms to them by the College, or of descent from an [[ancestor]] entitled to arms. It was for this [[reason]] that pedigrees were recorded by the visitations. Pedigrees continue to be registered at the College of Arms and kept up to date on a [[voluntary]] basis but they are not accessible to the general [[public]] without payment of a fee.

More visible, therefore, are the pedigrees recorded in published works, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke%27s_Peerage Burke's Peerage] and Burke's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landed_gentry Landed Gentry] in the United Kingdom and, in continental Europe by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanach_de_Gotha Almanach de Gotha].
==In animal husbandry==
In the [[practice]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding selective breeding] of animals, particularly in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_fancy animal fancy] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock livestock], including horses, pedigree charts are used to track the [[ancestry]] of animals and assist in the [[planning]] of suitable breeding [[programs]] to enhance desirable [[traits]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breed_registry Breed registries] are formed and are [[dedicated]] to the accurate tracking of pedigrees and maintaining accurate [[records]] of [[birth]], [[death]] and identifying characteristics of each registered animal.

[[Category: History]]
[[Category: Biology]]