heredity · noun — hereditary transmission of the physical and genetic qualities of parents to their offspring; the biological law by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics in their descendants. It carries an Arena rating of 1660, earned across 52 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, heredity ranks #1,145 of 17,134 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,271 of 17,134 for Most Sublime Words, #2,398 of 17,132 for Most Elegant Words, #2,401 of 17,142 for Scariest Words.
heredity is pronounced /hɪˈɹɛdɪti/.
Why “heredity” is a great word
HEREDITY — [Noun] The biological process by which genetic traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. From Middle French heredité, from Latin hērēditas ("condition of being an heir"), from hēres ("heir"). First used in English in the 1530s. Unlike "inheritance," which can be a house or a title, or "inbred," which connotes a crude stamp of sameness, heredity is the silent, invisible script of lineage. It is the shape of a father's hands recurring in a son, the ghost of a great-grandmother's smile, and the stubborn color of an iris passed down like a sealed decree—the solemn lottery by which the past claims its share of the future.
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Etymology
From Middle French heredité, from Latin hērēditas (“condition of being an heir”), from hēres (“heir”).
noun
- Hereditary transmission of the physical and genetic qualities of parents to their offspring; the biological law by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics in their descendants.e.g.“laws of heredity”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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