Etymologically
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hereditary

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 11:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi/[1]
  • US: /həˈɹɛdɪˌtɛɹi/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hereditarie,[2] borrowed from Latin hērēditārius (“of or connected with inheritance, inherited”),[3][2][4][5][6] from hērēditās (“heirship, inheritance”),[3][2][6] from hērēs (“heir”).[7][8][9] The American Heritage Dictionary traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *ghē-,[4] which Etymonline glosses "to be empty, left behind".[2] Post-classical writers used the Latin adjective for original sin (4th century), for a person holding a position by inheritance (11th century) and for disease passed from one generation to the next (14th century, and in Guy de Chauliac in 1363).[3] Compare hereditaire, hereditario and ereditario.[3] It is related to heir, heredity and heritage.[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a disease or bodily trait, passed naturally from parents to children: in an English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, perhaps before 1425.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the oldest English sense was used of diseases.[2] By about 1450 the word was used more generally of a quality or attitude passed down from a forebear;[3][2] from 1538 it described a possession, right or title passed on by legal inheritance;[3] Johnson (1755) gave only this legal sense, quoting Shakespeare.[10] From 1600 it described a person holding a position by inheritance, such as a monarch.[3] Since 1712 a hereditary has been such a person, especially a hereditary peer of the House of Lords.[3] The theological sense of sin inherited from Adam is recorded from 1577, and Whitehead and Russell's Principia Mathematica (1910) gave it a meaning in set theory.[3]

Timeline

  • ?a1425 – of a disease or trait, passed from parent to offspring.[3]
  • ?c1450 – passed down from a forebear.[3]
  • 1538 – of a right or title, passed by legal inheritance.[3]
  • 1577 – of sin, inherited from Adam.[3]
  • 1600 – of a person, holding a position by inheritance.[3]
  • 1712 – noun, a person who holds a position by inheritance.[3]
  • 1910 – in mathematics, of a set or property.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Passed on genetically from parents to their children: a hereditary eye disease.[11][12][3]
  2. Passed down by inheritance under the rules of descent, as a title or right; holding a position in this way: a hereditary chief.[12][11][3]
  3. Received from one's ancestors; traditional: the clans' hereditary rivalry.[12][11]
  4. Of or relating to inheritance.[11][3]
  5. (mathematics) Of a set, containing every element related in a given way to its members; of a property, passed on to such elements.[12][3]

Word family

  • hereditarily
  • hereditariness
  • hereditarian
  • nonhereditary

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins