Where does “hereditary” come from?
Hereditary comes from Latin hereditarius, formed from Latin heres (heir) with the suffix -arius, where heres derives from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰeh₁- meaning to grasp or hold.
hereditary (English): Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or...
Definitions
- Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or...
Ancestry of “hereditary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | hereditarie | hereditary, inherited of diseases or words |
| 2 | Latin | hērēditārius | hereditary, inherited |
| 3 | Latin | hērēditas | inheritance |
| 4 | Latin | -tās | ty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |