in·her·i·tance /ɪnˈhɛrətən(t)s/
 遺傳,遺產,繼承
 in·her·i·tance /ɪnˈhɛrətən(t)s/ 名詞
 遺傳,遺傳特性
 inheritance
 繼承
 In·her·it·ance n.
 1. The act or state of inheriting; as, the inheritance of an estate; the inheritance of mental or physical qualities.
 2. That which is or may be inherited; that which is derived by an heir from an ancestor or other person; a heritage; a possession which passes by descent.
 When the man dies, let the inheritance
 Descend unto the daughter.   --Shak.
 3. A permanent or valuable possession or blessing, esp. one received by gift or without purchase; a benefaction.
    To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.   --1 Pet. i. 4.
 4. Possession; ownership; acquisition. “The inheritance of their loves.”
 To you th' inheritance belongs by right
 Of brother's praise; to you eke 'longs his love.   --Spenser.
 5. Biol. Transmission and reception by animal or plant generation.
 6. Law A perpetual or continuing right which a man and his heirs have to an estate; an estate which a man has by descent as heir to another, or which he may transmit to another as his heir; an estate derived from an ancestor to an heir in course of law.
 Note: ☞ The word inheritance (used simply) is mostly confined to the title to land and tenements by a descent.
    Men are not proprietors of what they have, merely for themselves; their children have a title to part of it which comes to be wholly theirs when death has put an end to their parents' use of it; and this we call inheritance.   --Locke.
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 inheritance
      n 1: hereditary succession to a title or an office or property
           [syn: heritage]
      2: that which is inherited; a title or property or estate that
         passes by law to the heir on the death of the owner [syn:
         heritage]
      3: (genetics) attributes acquired via biological heredity from
         the parents [syn: hereditary pattern]
      4: any attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited
         from ancestors; "my only inheritance was my mother's
         blessing"; "the world's heritage of knowledge" [syn: heritage]