descend

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
descend/dɪˈsend/

▶verb

• 1 move downwards.

  ■ (of a road or flight of steps) slope or lead down.

• 2 Music become lower in pitch.

• 3 (descend on) make a sudden attack on or unwelcome visit to.

• 4 (be descended from) be a blood relative of (an ancestor).

  ■ (often descend to) pass by inheritance.

– derivatives
descendent adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. descendre, from L. descendere, from de- ‘down’ + scandere ‘to climb’.