heritage

noun

her·i·tage | \ ˈher-ə-tij

, ˈhe-rə- \

Definition of heritage

1 : property that descends to an heir

2a : something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor : legacy, inheritance proud of her Chinese heritage a rich heritage of folklore The battlefields are part of our heritage and should be preserved.

b : tradition the party's heritage of secularism

3 : something possessed as a result of one's natural situation or birth : birthright the heritage of natural freedom was long since cast away— V. L. Parrington

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Examples of heritage in a Sentence

hospitality is a cherished Southern heritage this farm is my heritage from my father, as it was for him from his father

Recent Examples on the Web Peter Krouse reports Ohio’s available land, close proximity to much of the country’s population, good railroad access and a rich manufacturing heritage should help establish local supply chains. — Cliff Pinckard, cleveland, 1 June 2021 Found in a prime position on the River Thames, opposite Hampton Court, The Mitre has a rich heritage in hospitality. — Angelina Villa-clarke, Forbes, 24 May 2021 Other defenders, however, including neo-Confederate groups, embrace the statues as symbols of a Southern heritage that not only celebrated white-supremacist beliefs but fought to maintain them. — Washington Post, 21 May 2021 Dogs with a heritage of guarding or herding may be especially suspicious of hugging or other affectionate behavior. — Star Tribune, 14 May 2021 Families that wanted to live in Flanner House Homes were vetted, leading the neighborhood to have a Black middle class heritage. — Alexandria Burris, The Indianapolis Star, 13 May 2021 Picasso painted the abstract scene after learning about the devastation wrought on Guernica, a town in an autonomous northern Spanish community with a rich and distinct heritage, by German aerial bombers. — Nora Mcgreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2021 Some 17 million people from India were living outside their homeland in 2020, according to figures from the United Nations, and millions more have Indian heritage, making the diaspora the largest in the world. — New York Times, 1 May 2021 As Cheyne notes in his essay: The British empiricism of John Locke, David Hume and David Hartley was itself at odds, Coleridge pointed out, with a deeper heritage of British thought. — Cameron Hilditch, National Review, 23 Apr. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'heritage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for heritage

Middle English heritage, eritage, borrowed from Anglo-French, from heriter "to inherit, make an heir" (going back to Late Latin hērēditāre "to leave as an inheritance, inherit, make an heir," from Latin hērēd-, hērēs heir entry 1 + -itāre, verb suffix) + -age -age

Note: The Latin verb suffix -itāre normally has repetitive or frequentative value (cf. hesitate, meditate, palpitate), not factitive or causative value, so in this instance it may be of distinct origin. A possible model is the adjective hērēditārius (see hereditary), in the formation of which a stem hērēdit- appears to have been extracted from the noun hērēditāt-, hērēditās "succession to an heir, inheritance," by construing the suffix as -āt-, -ās (or, alternatively, *hērēditātārius was shortened by haplology to hērēditārius).