REFERENCE
Pedigree chart symbols
A pedigree is a family tree drawn with a standard notation so any genetics teacher, clinician, or researcher can read it at a glance. This is the same notation PedigreeChartMaker uses — every symbol below is rendered by the editor’s real drawing code.
People
Male
A square represents a male (person assigned male at birth).
Female
A circle represents a female (person assigned female at birth).
Sex unknown
A diamond is used when the sex is unknown, unreported, or intentionally omitted.
Pregnancy
A hollow triangle (inverted) marks a current pregnancy.
Multiple
A small triangle with a number records multiple pregnancies (e.g. 3) when details are unavailable.
Affected
A filled (shaded) symbol means the person has the trait. Different traits get different shading or patterns when more than one is tracked.
Carrier
A dot in the center marks a carrier: unaffected but carrying one copy of the allele.
Presymptomatic
A half-filled symbol marks a person who will develop the condition later.
Proband
The person who brought the family to attention; marked with an arrow. The consultand uses an unlabelled arrow.
Deceased
A diagonal slash through the symbol means the person is deceased.
Affected + deceased
Shading and the deceased slash combine.
Relationships and structure
Union (mating) line
A horizontal line connecting two partners. A double line marks a consanguineous union — blood relatives.
Former union
A union that has ended is drawn with a slashed line; both partners still descend from it.
Descent lines
A vertical line from the union line down to the children, who sit below on a horizontal sibling bar.
Twins
Identical twins share a horizontal bar at the top; fraternal twins are joined with an inverted V shape.
Adoption
Dashed brackets show adoption: brackets facing the family mark a child adopted into it, brackets facing away mark a child adopted out.
Unknown parent
A dashed descent line means the connection is uncertain or the parent is unknown.
Family numbers
Small roman numerals (I, II, III…) label generations; pedigree IDs (1-1, 1-2, 2-3…) give every person a unique reference.
Reading a pedigree: an example
In the autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive template charts you can see the whole notation working together: generations numbered I–III, shading for affected individuals, dots for carriers, and the proband marked with an arrow.
Browse templates with real charts →