Generations later, his descendants were still poor.

descendants 是名词 descendant 的复数形式。descendant 由前缀 de-（表示"向下"）和词根 scend（来自拉丁语 scandere，意为"爬、上升"）组成，字面意思是"向下延伸的人"，即"后代、后裔"。