heritable

From Middle French héritable, from Old French heritable.

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹɪtəbəl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹɪtəbl̩/

heritable (comparative more heritable, superlative most heritable)

1. That can legally be inherited.
   • 1791, Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man:

     An heritable crown, or an heritable throne, or by what other fanciful name such things may be called, have no other significant explanation than that mankind are heritable property.

2. Genetically transmissible from parent to offspring; hereditary.
   • 1909, Albert Charles Seward, Darwin and Modern Science:

     But if we consider that all heritable variations must have their roots in the germ-plasm, and further, that when personal selection does not intervene, ...

   • 1982, Yutaka Kawazoe, “Molecular Mechanism of Chemical Modification of Cellular Nucleic Acid Bases by 4-Hydroxyaminoquinoline 1-oxide”, in Carcinogenic and Mutagenic N-substituted Aryl Compounds, page 185:

     Whether they are involved in carcinogenesis by induction of a heritable lesion would depend, I believe, on their ability either to mispair or to misrepair.

   • 2018 April 16, Ian Sample, The Guardian:

     The colour of a person’s hair is one of the most heritable features of their appearance, with studies on twins suggesting that genetics explains up to 97% of hair colour.

• inheritable

• inheritance