GET /ontologies/{ontologyId}/terms/{iri}/ancestors

ac.uk:embl-ebi-ontology-lookup-service-ols-api

Summary: Get ancestor terms
Operation ID: getTermAncestors
Auth: unknown
Description

Returns all ancestor terms (transitive parents) of the specified term

Parameters (3)

iri (string, path, required)

URL-encoded IRI of the term

lang (string, query, optional, default: en)
ontologyId (string, path, required)

Examples (3)

TitleTypeURLAction
Get ancestors of a GO biological process term curl https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ols4/api/ontologies/go/terms/http%3A%2F%2Fpurl.obolibrary.org%2Fobo%2FGO_0008150/ancestors
Get ancestors of a Human Phenotype Ontology term curl https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ols4/api/ontologies/hp/terms/http%3A%2F%2Fpurl.obolibrary.org%2Fobo%2FHP_0000118/ancestors
Get ancestors of a MONDO disease term curl https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ols4/api/ontologies/mondo/terms/http%3A%2F%2Fpurl.obolibrary.org%2Fobo%2FMONDO_0000001/ancestors

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 09:49:54.350409 400 145ms
2026-03-23 09:27:39.444974 400 143ms
2026-03-23 09:23:39.955196 400 157ms