heredity
pronunciation
How to pronounce heredity in British English:
UK [həˈredəti]
How to pronounce heredity in American English:
US [həˈredəti]
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- Noun:
- the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next
- the total of inherited attributes
Word Origin
- heredity (n.)
- 1530s, from Middle French hérédité (12c.), from Latin hereditatem (nominative hereditas) "heirship, inheritance, condition of being an heir," from heres (genitive heredis) "heir, heiress," from PIE root *ghe- "to be empty, left behind" (source also of Greek khera "widow"). Legal sense of "inheritable quality or character" first recorded 1784; the modern biological sense seems to be found first in 1863, introduced by Herbert Spencer.
Example
- 1. He knew nothing of heredity or genetics , both crucial to evolution .
- 2. Infant temperament was influenced by heredity or the nature of both parents .
- 3. In fact , personality resemblances between biological relatives are attributable almost entirely to heredity , rather than environment .
- 4. Somewhere in the ballpark of 70 % of risk for alzheimer 's disease across a population is due to heredity .
- 5. The new science of epigenetics rewrites the rules of disease , heredity , and identity .