Etymology Explorer › English

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

  1. Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or...

Ancestry of “hereditary”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishhereditarie—
2Latinhērēditārius—
3Latinhērēditas—
4Latin-tās—
5Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
6Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
7Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “hereditary”

  • hereditarily
  • hereditarian
  • nonhereditary
  • hereditarianism
  • hereditariness
  • semihereditary
  • hereditarianist
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →