What is traversal?
jQuery traversal, meaning "move", is used to "find" (or select) HTML elements based on their relationship to other elements. Start with a selection and move along this selection until you reach your desired element.
The picture below shows a family tree. With jQuery traversal, you can easily move up (ancestors), down (descendants), and horizontally (siblings) in the family tree, starting from the selected (current) element. This movement is called traversing the DOM.
## Ancestors are father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. Descendants are children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. Siblings share the same parent.
The largest type of traversal method is tree traversal (tree-traversal).
The next chapter will explain how to move up, down, and at the same level in the DOM tree.