heritable

adjective

her·​i·​ta·​ble ˈher-ə-tə-bəl How to pronounce heritable (audio)
ˈhe-rə-
1
: capable of being inherited or of passing by inheritance
2

Examples of heritable in a Sentence

heritable characteristics like skin and eye and hair color
Recent Examples on the Web There's also some evidence that spatial cognition skills in pheasants are weakly heritable, suggesting that predation could apply an evolutionary selection to this trait. John Timmer, Ars Technica, 27 Jan. 2023 Alta Charo, a bioethicist and legal scholar who was also in attendance, noted that although the risks are higher in a fetus, heritable germline modification is still probably a remote possibility, because of all the things that have to happen for those changes to be passed down. Megan Molteni, STAT, 21 Feb. 2024 Doberman pinschers and Labrador retrievers often have a heritable form of narcolepsy. Discover Magazine, 13 Jan. 2024 Then at age 35, I was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which is a highly heritable difference in brain wiring. Irina Gonzalez, Parents, 24 Oct. 2023 Bray and her colleagues found that about half of the variation in attention to human communication among the animals is heritable. Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 22 Aug. 2023 Even in some places that have banned heritable genome editing, the consensus in the scientific community may be unstable. Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2023 The wounds that afflict Brinkley’s characters stem from social inequality—police brutality, exploitation in the gig economy, and doctors’ racist dismissals of Black patients—and from such universal vulnerabilities as family discord, heritable illnesses, and our own resistance to change. By Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023 The heritable nature of schizophrenia has been known for about a century. Isabella Cueto, STAT, 16 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'heritable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, from heriter "to inherit, make an heir" + -able -able — more at heritage

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of heritable was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near heritable

Cite this Entry

“Heritable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritable. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

heritable

adjective
her·​i·​ta·​ble ˈher-ət-ə-bəl How to pronounce heritable (audio)
: capable of being inherited : hereditary
heritable differences in structure

Medical Definition

heritable

adjective
her·​i·​ta·​ble ˈher-ət-ə-bəl How to pronounce heritable (audio)
: hereditary
one of several heritable childhood cancersW. K. Cavenee et al.

Legal Definition

heritable

adjective
her·​i·​ta·​ble ˈher-ə-tə-bəl How to pronounce heritable (audio)

More from Merriam-Webster on heritable

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