heritage

plural heritages · alternative archaic hæritage

1. countableuncountableAn inheritance; property that may be inherited.

   Now unſpeakable happy are all thoſe that have ſuch an heritage: can we thinke they will part with it? No verily, […] they will not part with ſuch an inheritance as Chriſt is, rich, fat, alwayes fruitfull, and never decaying.

   1652, John Robotham, chapter III, in An Exposition: On the whole Book of Solomons Song; Commonly called The Canticles., London, →OCLC, page 413

2. countableuncountableA tradition; a practice or set of values that is passed down from preceding generations through families or through institutional memory.

   In fact it was a multifarious agglomerate of many little countries, gathered by marriage, heritage and luck, in the course of centuries, and now united in the hand of this Duke Wilhelm.

   1858, Thomas Carlyle, chapter XIII, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III, page 247

   2 more examples

   The first is that learning, continuous learning, is an intrinsic part of the American tradition. In some ways it constitutes the core of our social heritage, and no doubt accounts for the tremendous organizational and productive achievements which have taken place in this country. However, it is possible to move away from, even to lose one's heritage.

   1947, Norris E. Class, chapter VII, in Marjorie Bell, editor, Redirecting the Delinquent: 1947 Yearbook, New York: National Parole and Probation Association, page 234

   When a language dies members of the culture of which that language was once a part may attempt to hold on to their linguistic heritage, if not by the use of the defunct language itself, at least by the preservation of its script.

   2007, J. N. Adams, “The Republic: inscriptions”, in The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600, Cambridge University Press, page 105

3. countableuncountableA birthright; the status acquired by birth, especially of but not exclusive to the firstborn.
4. attributivecountableuncountableHaving a certain background, such as growing up with a second language.

   a heritage speaker; a heritage language

   2 more examples

   The university requires heritage Spanish students to enroll in a specially designed Spanish program not available to non-heritage students.

   On Friday, Vivek Ramaswamy, an Indian American who is running for governor of Ohio as a Republican, took on a faction on the right that is pushing the idea that so-called “heritage Americans” — people whose families have been in the country for multiple generations — have a greater claim to the nation than more recent arrivals.

   2025 December 20, Richard Fausset, Ken Bensinger, “Turning Point’s Annual Gathering Turns Into a Gripefest”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

plural Heritages

1. A surname.