inheritance

== English == === Alternative forms === enheritance, enheritaunce, inheritaunce (obsolete) inhæritance (obsolete, hypercorrect) === Etymology === Inherited from Middle English enheritaunce, inheritaunce, borrowed from Anglo-Norman, Old French enheritaunce, from enheriter. By surface analysis, inherit +‎ -ance. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ɪnˈhɛɹɪtəns/ === Noun === inheritance (countable and uncountable, plural inheritances) The passing of title to an estate upon death. (countable) That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament, such as the part of an estate (i.e., a portion). (uncountable, especially linguistics, biology) The act or mechanism of inheriting; the state of having inherited. (biology, genetic algorithms) The biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring. (programming, object-oriented programming) The mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass. ==== Hyponyms ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== inherit inheritable inheritor inheritress inheritrix ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “inheritance”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. == Middle English == === Noun === inheritance alternative form of enheritaunce