Etymograph

English

heredity

Heredity comes from Middle French heredité ‘the right to inherit’, from Latin hērēditas ‘condition of being an heir’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave behind, abandon’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-1‘to leave behind, abandon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁ro-1‘derelict’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhēres2‘heir’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhērēditas2‘condition of being an heir’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400eredité3
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600heredité2‘the right to inherit’
  7. Englishtodayheredity2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin heres
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English heredity
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle French heredité

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Latin heres‘to leave behind, abandon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁ro-Wiktionary, Latin heres‘derelict’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhēresWiktionary, English heredity‘heir’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhērēditasWiktionary, English heredity‘condition of being an heir’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ereditéWiktionary, Middle French heredité
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600hereditéWiktionary, English heredity‘the right to inherit’
  7. EnglishtodayheredityWiktionary, English heredity

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave behind, abandon’

go, gone, inherit, forego, 21 more

through Latin hēres ‘heir’

heritage, heir, 3 more

Today it means

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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “heredity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin heres, Middle French heredité. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- / heredity

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