Explanation

Heredity is the biological process responsible for passing on physical traits from one generation to another. If your mom and dad both have dreamy blue eyes and so do you, then you've got hereditary to thank for your movie-star gaze. First used in the 1530s, the noun heredity comes from the Latin word hereditatem, meaning "condition of being an heir." It can refer to inheriting characteristics from your parents, or it can refer more broadly to the passing on of genetic factors from one generation to the next. Heredity will determine a person's hair color and height. And due to heredity, some people are more susceptible to diseases and disorders like cancer, alcoholism, and depression.

Vocabulary lists containing heredity

Genetics - Inheritance and Variation of Traits

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Genetics - Middle School

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Life Science: Genetics and Evolution

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See Examples For:

In Galton’s day, the impact of heredity on who we are as people had become recognized, then greatly exaggerated—a trend that continued through the next century and remains alive and well today.

From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2026

The possibility of a genealogical tree of life is predicated on the existence of an underlying process of heredity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

"Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc," it said.

From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025

From the description of skin as “blue black” to the blues as a musical genre, the color blue and its many shades intertwine with African American heredity, history and heritage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2024

She weathered the buffets of history with resilience—but she weathered the buffets of heredity with something more than resilience: a grace that we, as her descendants, can only hope to emulate.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

However, the real message that the new research carries is an exciting and hopeful one: that Indians have created a long-lasting civilisation from a variety of heredities and histories.

From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2018

In spare moments he surprises mice and guinea pigs, studying their heredities and acquired characteristics.

From Time Magazine Archive

While some heredities withstand a poor environment, others are so poor that, no matter how good the environment, the machine cannot survive.

From Crime: Its Cause and Treatment by Clarence Darrow

Always some strong barbarians, endowed with rich, unspoiled heredities, caught the falling torch and bore it onward flaming high once more.

From The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy by Lothrop Stoddard

Our knowledge of individual malign heredities is too meager to carry us very far at present.

From Being Well-Born An Introduction to Eugenics by Michael F. Guyer