phrasal verb🧩 phrasal verb

take after

to resemble a relative

What it means

To resemble an older relative in appearance, personality, or behaviour. It is almost always used about family members, not friends or strangers.

Examples

  • Everyone says Mia takes after her grandmother, especially around the eyes.
  • He takes after his dad: quiet, patient, and obsessed with old cars.
  • She really takes after her mother when it comes to cooking from memory.
  • People used to say I took after my uncle more than my own parents.

Where it comes from

Inseparable and never used in the passive. Common in both British and American English, almost exclusively about family resemblance, rarely about acquired habits.

Related phrasal verbs

#bring up#look up#stand by

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