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Hereditary vs Heritable - What's the difference?

hereditary | heritable | Synonyms |

Hereditary is a synonym of heritable.


As adjectives the difference between hereditary and heritable

is that hereditary is which is passed on as inheritance, by last will or intestate while heritable is able to be inherited, passed from parents to their children.

As a noun hereditary

is a hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the house of lords.

hereditary

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • which is passed on as inheritance, by last will or intestate
  • (of a title, honor or right) legally granted to somebody's descendant after that person's death.
  • Duke is a hereditary title which was created in Norman times.
  • (of a person) holding a legally hereditary title or rank
  • hereditary rulers
  • (of a disease or trait) passed from a parent to offspring in the genes
  • ''Haemophilia is hereditary in his family.

    Derived terms

    * hereditariness * hereditarily * hereditary disease * hereditary peer

    Noun

    (hereditaries)
  • A hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.
  • See also

    * congenital

    heritable

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • able to be inherited, passed from parents to their children
  • * 1791: Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man
  • All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny. An heritable' crown, or an '''heritable''' throne, or by what other fanciful name such things may be called, have no other significant explanation than that mankind are ' heritable property.
  • * 1909: Albert Charles Seward, Darwin and Modern Science
  • But if we consider that all heritable variations must have their roots in the germ-plasm, and further, that when personal selection does not intervene, ...

    Synonyms

    * inheritable