Meanings
adjectivehereditary (comparative more hereditary, superlative most hereditary)
comparative more hereditary · superlative most hereditary
- Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
- Of a title, honor or right: legally granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death.
Duke is a hereditary title which was created in Norman times.
Synonyms: lineal
- Of a person: holding a legally hereditary title or rank.
hereditary rulers
- Of a disease or trait: passed from a parent to offspring in the genes.
Haemophilia is hereditary in his family.
1 more example
Xanthuria is an hereditary disorder in which there is an absence of the enzyme xanthine oxidase which interferes with the metabolic breakdown of purines, leading to an increased excretion of xanthine in the urine and to formation of stones.
1985, Urology, volume 2, page 12 - mathematicsOf a ring: such that all submodules of projective modules over the ring are also projective.
- graph theoryOf a property of graphs: such that if G has the property, so must every induced subgraph of G.
nounhereditary (plural hereditaries)
plural hereditaries
- A hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf a title, honor or right: legally granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death.
Similar
Similar
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveoccurring among members of a family usually by heredity
adjectiveinherited or inheritable by established rules (usually legal rules) of descent
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinhērēditārius
- Middle Englishhereditarie
- Englishhereditary
Inherited from Middle English hereditarie, from Latin hērēditārius, from hērēditās (“inheritance”), from hērēs (“heir”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek συγγενικός
- συγγενικός (sungenikós)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Bulgarian насле́дствен, насле́дствен
- насле́дствен (naslédstven)which is passed on as inheritance
- насле́дствен (naslédstven)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- насле́дствен (naslédstven)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Catalan hereditari, hereditari
- hereditariwhich is passed on as inheritance
- hereditariof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- hereditariof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Chinese Mandarin 遺傳的 /遗传的, 遺留的 /遗留的
- 遺傳的 /遗传的 (yíchuán de)which is passed on as inheritance
- 遺留的 /遗留的 (yíliú de)which is passed on as inheritance
- 世襲的 /世袭的 (shìxí de)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- 遺傳的 /遗传的 (yíchuán de)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Czech dědičný, dědičný
- dědičnýwhich is passed on as inheritance
- dědičnýof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- dědičnýof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Danish arvelig, arvelig
- arveligwhich is passed on as inheritance
- arveligof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- arveligof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Dutch erfelijk, erfelijk
- erfelijkwhich is passed on as inheritance
- erfelijkof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- erf-of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- erfelijkof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- erf-of a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- erfelijkof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Finnish perintö-, perintönä saatu
- perintö-which is passed on as inheritance
- perintönä saatuwhich is passed on as inheritance
- perinnöllinenof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- perintö-of a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- perinnöllinenof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
French héréditaire
- héréditaireof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
German erblich, Erb-
- erblichwhich is passed on as inheritance
- Erb-of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- Erb-of a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- erblichof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
- Erb-of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Greek κληρονομικός, κληρονομικός
- κληρονομικός (klironomikós)which is passed on as inheritance
- κληρονομικός (klironomikós)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- προγονικός (progonikós)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- κληρονομικός (klironomikós)of a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- κληρονομικός (klironomikós)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Hindi पैतृक, ख़ानदानी
- पैतृक (paitŕk)which is passed on as inheritance
- ख़ानदानी (xāndānī)which is passed on as inheritance
- आनुवंशिक (ānuvañśik)which is passed on as inheritance
- वंशागत (vañśāgat)which is passed on as inheritance
- पुश्तैनी (puśtainī)which is passed on as inheritance
- मौरूसी (maurūsī)which is passed on as inheritance
- वंशानुक्रमिक (vañśānukramik)which is passed on as inheritance
- पारिवारिक (pārivārik)which is passed on as inheritance
- ख़ानदानी (xāndānī)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- आनुवंशिक (ānuvañśik)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- वंशागत (vañśāgat)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- पैतृक (paitŕk)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
Hungarian örökletes
- örökletesof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Italian ereditario, ereditario
- ereditariowhich is passed on as inheritance
- ereditarioof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- ereditarioof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- ereditarioof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Norwegian Bokmål arvelig, arvelig
- arveligwhich is passed on as inheritance
- arveligof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- arveligof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Polish dziedziczny, dziedziczny
- dziedzicznywhich is passed on as inheritance
- dziedzicznyof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- dziedzicznyof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- dziedzicznyof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Portuguese hereditário, hereditário
- hereditáriowhich is passed on as inheritance
- hereditárioof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- hereditárioof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- hereditárioof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Romanian ereditar, ereditar
- ereditarwhich is passed on as inheritance
- ereditarof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- ereditarof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- ereditarof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Russian насле́дственный, насле́дственный
- насле́дственный (naslédstvennyj)which is passed on as inheritance
- насле́дственный (naslédstvennyj)of a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- насле́дственный (naslédstvennyj)of a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- насле́дственный (naslédstvennyj)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Slovak zdedený, dedený
- zdedenýwhich is passed on as inheritance
- dedenýwhich is passed on as inheritance
- dedičnýwhich is passed on as inheritance
- dedičnýof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- dedičnýof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- dedičnýof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Spanish heredado, hereditario
- heredadowhich is passed on as inheritance
- hereditariowhich is passed on as inheritance
- heredadoof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- hereditarioof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- heredadoof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- hereditarioof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- hereditarioof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Swedish ärftlig, ärftlig
- ärftligwhich is passed on as inheritance
- ärftligof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Tagalog manahin
- manahinwhich is passed on as inheritance
Thai เป็นกรรมพันธ์
- เป็นกรรมพันธ์of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Turkish ırsî
- ırsîof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Ukrainian спадко́вий, спадкоє́мний
- спадко́вий (spadkóvyj)which is passed on as inheritance
- спадкоє́мний (spadkojémnyj)which is passed on as inheritance
- спадко́вий (spadkóvyj)of a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Welsh etifeddol, etifeddol
- etifeddolwhich is passed on as inheritance
- etifeddolof a title, honor or right: granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death
- etifeddolof a person: holding a hereditary title or rank
- etifeddolof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
- genynnolof a disease or trait: passed in the genes
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
hereditary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hereditary
MLA
“hereditary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hereditary. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hereditary,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hereditary.
Source: hereditary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.