inheritor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who receives property, a title, or another possession by inheritance

   As the sole inheritor, she received both the house and its debts.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or group that receives and continues an idea, tradition, or characteristic

   The movement saw itself as the inheritor of an older democratic tradition.

3. 3
   noun

   in object-oriented programming, a class or element that derives features from another

   The inheritor overrides one method defined by its parent class.

From Middle English enheriter or enheritour, ultimately formed around the verb inherit. That verb came through Anglo-French from Latin hereditare, based on heres ("heir"). The computing sense applies the same transfer metaphor to classes and properties.

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