Genogram symbols and what they mean
A genogram is a family diagram drawn with a shared set of symbols, so anyone who reads it (an instructor, a supervisor, a colleague) can follow three or more generations at a glance. The key below follows the common conventions from McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry’s Genograms: Assessment and Treatment, a key widely used in social work, counseling, family therapy and nursing courses. It is also the key Genogram Builder draws with.
People and pregnancies
- Male
- Female
- Deceased
- Index person
- Pregnancy
- Miscarriage
- Stillbirth
Couples and children
- Married
- Living together
- Separated
- Divorced
- Identical twins
- Adopted child
- Foster child
Emotional lines
- Close
- Fused
- Distant
- Conflict
- Cutoff
- Abuse
- Focused on
Health and household
- Substance use
- Suspected substance use
- Mental or physical illness
- Illness and substance use
- Your own condition
- Lives together
What each symbol means
People and pregnancies
Every person appears once, even if they married more than once. Generations sit in rows: grandparents at the top, the index person’s generation below their parents, and children below that.
- Male
- A square. The person’s age goes inside it and the name and birth year go below.
- Female
- A circle, with the age inside and the name and birth year below.
- Deceased
- An X through the person’s symbol. Write the birth and death years below it (for example 1948–2019) instead of an age.
- Index person
- A double outline marks the person the genogram is about, sometimes called the identified patient or the client. A chart has one index person, and the generations are counted from them.
- Pregnancy
- A triangle on the line under the parents, placed with the other children.
- Miscarriage
- A small filled dot hanging from the parents’ line, in birth order with the children.
- Stillbirth
- A small square or circle with an X through it, in birth order with the children.
Couples and children
Couple lines connect partners; children hang from the couple line, ordered from oldest on the left to youngest on the right. The line style tells the reader how the couple is, or was, connected.
- Married
- A line drops from each partner and joins below them. By convention the husband stands on the left and the wife on the right; same-sex couples use the same line.
- Living together
- A dashed couple line for partners who live together without marrying.
- Separated
- One slash across the couple line.
- Divorced
- Two slashes across the couple line. A later marriage gets its own couple line, and each person is still drawn only once.
- Identical twins
- Twins hang from one shared point on the line under the parents. Identical twins add a short bar between the two lines; fraternal twins leave it out.
- Adopted child
- A dashed line from the parents, with brackets around the child’s symbol.
- Foster child
- A dotted line from the parents to the child.
Emotional lines
Emotional lines show how two people relate, not how they are related. They run straight between the two symbols. On screen they are colored (green for close, red for conflict, blue for distant, grey for cutoff, purple for abuse), and each one also has its own pattern, so a black-and-white print stays readable.
- Close
- Two parallel lines between two people who are close.
- Fused
- Three parallel lines for a very intense, over-involved relationship.
- Distant
- A dotted line between two people who keep their distance.
- Conflict
- A zigzag line for an ongoing conflict.
- Cutoff
- A line broken by two short bars: the two people no longer have contact.
- Abuse
- A zigzag line with an arrowhead pointing at the person who was harmed.
- Focused on
- A straight line with an arrowhead pointing at the person who gets the attention, such as a parent focused on one child.
Health and household
Shading marks health and behavior: substance use, mental or physical illness, or both. The household outline shows who lives together today, which matters when a family has divorced, remarried or fostered.
- Substance use
- The bottom half of the symbol is shaded.
- Suspected substance use
- The bottom half is hatched instead of solid: substance use that is suspected but not confirmed.
- Mental or physical illness
- The left half of the symbol is shaded.
- Illness and substance use
- The left half and the bottom-right quarter are shaded.
- Your own condition
- A colored dot on the corner of the symbol, for any condition your course key adds. The legend uses the name you give it.
- Lives together
- A dotted outline around the people who share a home now, including a foster or blended household.
When your course key is different
Programs don’t all use the same key. Some name the emotional lines differently, add a line your instructor cares about, or shade a condition their own way. Check the assignment brief first: it usually says which notation to follow and whether to draw your own family, a fictional family or a de-identified client.
In Genogram Builder you can rename any emotional line or condition. The legend on the page uses your names, and it lists only the symbols, lines and conditions that actually appear in your chart, so the key always matches the drawing.
Reading a genogram in four steps
- Find the index person: the symbol with the double outline.
- Move up a row for their parents and up again for their grandparents. Each row is one generation.
- Follow the couple lines and the slashes on them to see marriages, separations and divorces, then the children below each couple from oldest to youngest.
- Read the shading and the emotional lines against the legend, which should sit on the same page as the chart.
Draw your genogram with these symbols
Add relatives one at a time; the chart and the legend draw themselves. Free to build, no account, no upload.