What does hereditary mean?
Hereditary describes something that passes from one generation to another. Its most familiar use is in medicine and biology, where a hereditary disease, trait, or condition is one that can be transmitted from parents to their children through genes. The word has broader social and legal applications: a title, rank, privilege, or property may be hereditary because succession determines who receives it, while customs and traditions may be described as hereditary when they are passed down through families. Hereditary is not simply a synonym for congenital, since a congenital condition is present at birth but may have resulted from factors other than inherited genes. Likewise, an acquired condition develops during a person's lifetime rather than being transmitted genetically. The term is generally neutral in register and can be used in everyday, scientific, historical, and legal writing, although “genetic” is often more precise in biological discussions.
adjectivePassed down from parents or ancestors to offspring, especially through genetic inheritance. It can also describe rights, privileges, customs, or properties that pass from one generation to the next.
- Passed from parents or ancestors to offspring through genetic inheritance.
- Transmitted or established across generations, especially of traits, customs, beliefs, or institutions.
- Belonging to a person and their descendants by inheritance, especially a title, rank, or privilege.
"The condition is hereditary, so it can affect every generation of the family."
"Hereditary conditions can appear in several members of the same family."
"The monarch inherited a hereditary title that had existed for generations."
Hereditary preserves a literal trace of its Latin ancestry: its root means “heir,” so the word has always been connected with what passes to the next generation.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hereditary come from?
The adjective developed in Middle English from Old French hereditaire, from Latin hereditarius, meaning “heritable” or “inherited.” The Latin family is based on hereditas, meaning “inheritance,” and heres, meaning “heir”; the same roots also produced heritage, heredity, inheritance, and heritor.
Related word forms
How hereditary is actually used
The word is formal but widely used. In medicine and biology, it refers specifically to transmission through genes rather than to a condition acquired during life; in social and legal contexts, it may describe titles, property, customs, or privileges passed by inheritance.