jQuery .parent() gets parent element of the target element;
If you need to get all parent ancestors check .parents() method;
js:
$(function() { $('.target').parent().css('background-color', '#ffffaa'); // yellow $('.target').parent('.parent').css('background-color', '#aaffaa'); // green });
html:
<div class="well"> should be yellow <div class="label target">.target</div> </div> <div class="well parent"> should be green because of class="parent" <div class="label target">.target</div> </div> <div class="well"> should be grey, because .parent() goes only one level up <div class="well"> should be yellow <div class="label target">.target</div> </div> </div>