Shem is the son of Noah traditionally linked with the line leading to Abraham.
Genesis 10 and 11 trace a genealogy from Shem through several generations to Terah and then Abraham. In the biblical family narrative, Shem is one of Noah’s three sons, alongside Ham and Japheth. The genealogy is the reason Abraham’s ancestry is associated with Shem rather than with Noah’s other sons.
The word “Semitic” was later formed from Shem’s name and became a historical language-family term, although modern scholarship treats language classification more carefully than simply equating it with descent from one individual. Hebrew is among the Semitic languages.
This question concerns the genealogy presented in Genesis, not a genetic claim that can be independently tested from the story. The text’s sequence is explicit: Shem’s line leads to Abraham, who becomes a central figure in later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions.