Standard Lemma guide

heredity

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /hɪˈɹɛdɪti/
  • US: /həˈɹɛdəti/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH ER0 EH1 D AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Hereditary transmission of the physical and genetic qualities of parents to their offspring; the biological law by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics in their descendants.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • laws of heredity
  • genetics and heredity
  • influence of heredity
  • Eye color is often determined by heredity.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the total of inherited attributes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: genetic endowment

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: property

Narrower terms: inheritance, hereditary pattern

3

noun

Meaning 3

the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organic process, biological process

History

Etymology

From Middle French heredité, from Latin hērēditas (“condition of being an heir”), from hēres (“heir”).

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ժառանգականություն (žaṙangakanutʻyun) — hereditary transmission
  • Azerbaijani: irsiyyət — hereditary transmission
  • Bulgarian: унаследяване (unasledjavane) — hereditary transmission
  • Bulgarian: наследственост (nasledstvenost) — hereditary transmission
  • Catalan: herència — hereditary transmission
  • Chinese Mandarin: 遺傳 /遗传 (yíchuán) — hereditary transmission
  • Czech: dědičnost — hereditary transmission
  • Dutch: erfelijkheid — hereditary transmission
  • Finnish: perinnöllisyys — hereditary transmission
  • French: hérédité — hereditary transmission
  • Greek: κληρονομικότητα (klironomikótita) — hereditary transmission
  • Hungarian: örökletesség — hereditary transmission
  • Irish: oidhreacht — hereditary transmission
  • Irish: dúchas — hereditary transmission
  • Italian: eredità — hereditary transmission
  • Japanese: 遺伝 (iden) — hereditary transmission
  • Northern Kurdish: bomaweyî — hereditary transmission
  • Polish: dziedziczność — hereditary transmission
  • Romanian: ereditate — hereditary transmission
  • Russian: насле́дственность (naslédstvennostʹ) — hereditary transmission
  • Slovak: dedičnosť — hereditary transmission
  • Spanish: herencia — hereditary transmission
  • Spanish: heredad — hereditary transmission
  • Swedish: ärftlighet — hereditary transmission
  • Tagalog: kamanahan — hereditary transmission
  • Thai: กรรมพันธุ์ — hereditary transmission