Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Heredity \He*red"i*ty\, n. [L. hereditas heirship.] (Biol.)
Hereditary transmission of the physical and psychical
qualities of parents to their offspring; the biological law
by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics
in their descendants. See Pangenesis.
[1913 Webster]
heredity
n 1: the biological process whereby genetic factors are
transmitted from one generation to the next
2: the total of inherited attributes [syn: heredity, geneticendowment]