different between inherit vs hereditary

English

Etymology

From Middle English enheriten, from Old French enheriter, from Late Latin inhereditare (“make heir”). Replaced native Old English irfan, compare related noun erf (“inheritance”), from Middle English erve, from Old English yrfe, ierfe (“heritage, bequest, inheritance, property, inherited property, property that passes to an heir, cattle, livestock”), from Proto-Germanic *arbij? (“heritage”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?erb?- (“to change ownership”) (from which also *h?órb?os (“orphan”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?h???t/
• Rhymes: -???t

Verb

inherit (third-person singular simple present inherits, present participle inheriting, simple past and past participle inherited)

1. (transitive) To take possession of as a right (especially in Biblical translations).

2. (transitive) To receive (property, a title, etc.), by legal succession or bequest after the previous owner's death.

3. (transitive, biology) To receive a characteristic from one's ancestors by genetic transmission.

4. (transitive) To derive from people or conditions previously in force.

5. (intransitive) To come into an inheritance.

6. (computing, programming, transitive) To derive (existing functionality) from a superclass.

7. (computing, programming, transitive) To derive a new class from (a superclass).
8. (transitive, obsolete) To put in possession of.

Usage notes

• Do not confuse with inherent.

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Latin hereditarius, from hereditas 'inheritance', from heres 'heir'

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h????d?t(?)?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /h????d??t??i/
• Hyphenation: he?red?i?ta?ry

Adjective

hereditary (comparative more hereditary, superlative most hereditary)

1. Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
2. Of a title, honor or right: legally granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death.

   Duke is a hereditary title which was created in Norman times.

3. Of a person: holding a legally hereditary title or rank.

   hereditary rulers

4. Of a disease or trait: passed from a parent to offspring in the genes

   Haemophilia is hereditary in his family.

5. (mathematics) Of a ring: such that all submodules of projective modules over the ring are also projective.

Synonyms

• inhereditary

Antonyms

• nonhereditary

Derived terms

Related terms

• see heir

Translations

Noun

hereditary (plural hereditaries)

1. A hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.

See also

• congenital

Anagrams

• erythraeid