hereditary
pronunciation
How to pronounce hereditary in British English:
UK [həˈredɪtri]
How to pronounce hereditary in American English:
US [həˈredɪteri]
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- Adjective:
- tending to occur among members of a family usually by heredity
- inherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent
Word Origin
- hereditary
- hereditary: [16] Latin hērēs ‘heir’ (a relative of Greek khéra ‘widow’ and Sanskrit hā- ‘leave, lose’) has been quite a prolific source of English words. For one thing there is heir [13] itself, acquired via Old French heir. And then there are all the derivatives of the Latin stem form hērēd-, including hereditament [15], hereditary, heredity [16], and, via the late Latin verb hērēditāre, heritage [13] and inherit [14].=> heredity, heritage, inherit
- hereditary (adj.)
- early 15c., hereditarie, from Latin hereditarius, from hereditas (see heredity).
Antonym
Example
- 1. Hereditary information does not exist independently of its embodiment .
- 2. Extraordinary perks remain : some teaching jobs are hereditary .
- 3. Then politically , china has become an empire without hereditary emperors .
- 4. Three things tipped them towards getting rid of all hereditary and appointed peers .
- 5. The power elite will support another hereditary succession , to keep the peace , some analysts say .