hereditary
he·red·i·ta·ry/həˈɹɛdɪˌtɛɹi/adjective, noun
hereditary is spelled H-E-R-E-D-I-T-A-R-Y: 10 letters and 5 syllables (he·red·i·ta·ry). It appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, hereditary means “Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in hereditary?
| Letters | 10: H-E-R-E-D-I-T-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5: he·red·i·ta·ry |
| In writing | 3.1 times per million words; the 15,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is hereditary?
Hereditary appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce hereditary?
- UK /həˈɹɛdɪt(ə)ɹi/
- US /həˈɹɛdɪˌtɛɹi/
Hereditary has 5 syllables, split he·red·i·ta·ry in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-hereditary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of hereditary
- more hereditary comparative
- most hereditary superlative
- hereditaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does hereditary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Passed on as an inheritance, by last will or intestate.
- 2
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.
- 3
Of a person: holding a legally hereditary title or rank.
hereditary rulers
- 4
Of a disease or trait: passed from a parent to offspring in the genes.
Haemophilia is hereditary in his family.
- 5
Of a ring: such that all submodules of projective modules over the ring are also projective.
- 6
Of a property of graphs: such that if G has the property, so must every induced subgraph of G.
noun
- 1
A hereditary ruler; a hereditary peer in the House of Lords.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Hereditary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | erblich , Erb- |
| Portuguese | hereditário |
| Spanish | heredado, hereditario |
| French | héréditaire |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hereditary come from?
Inherited from Middle English hereditarie, from Latin hērēditārius, from hērēditās (“inheritance”), from hērēs (“heir”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).