patrimony

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   property or an estate inherited from one's father or other ancestor

   He exhausted much of his patrimony within a few years.

2. 2
   noun

   a cultural, intellectual, or natural heritage passed down from earlier generations

   The archive forms part of the nation's literary patrimony.

3. 3
   noun

   historically, an estate or endowment belonging to a church

   The monastery supported its work from a modest patrimony of farms and rents.

Through Old French patrimoine from Latin patrimonium, "property inherited from a father," built from pater, "father." The word broadened from a family inheritance to any valued heritage transmitted by previous generations, and historically also named church estates.

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