heredity

Meanings

1. 1
   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.

   Laws of heredity.

2. 2
   noun

   the total of inherited attributes

3. 3
   noun

   the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next

From Middle French heredité, from Latin hērēditas (“condition of being an heir”), from hēres (“heir”).

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