Inheritance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈhɛɹətÉ™ns/

Alternative forms

• enheritance obsolete
• enheritaunce obsolete
• inheritaunce obsolete

Origin

Recorded since 1473, from to inherit, itself from Old French enheriter "make heir, appoint as heir," from Late Latin inhereditare "to appoint as heir," from Latin in- "in" + hereditare "to inherit," from heres (gen. heredis) "heir".

Full definition of inheritance

Noun

1. The passing of title to an estate upon death.
2. (countable) That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament.
3. (biology) The hereditary passing of biological attributes from ancestors to their offspring.
4. (computing) In object-oriented programming, the mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass.

Related terms

• inherit
• inheritable
• inheritor
• preheritance