capable of being inherited; able to be passed down from parents to children or through generations.
Old French 'heritable' from Latin 'hereditabilis' based on 'hereditas' (inheritance). The term has been used since Middle English for both legal property rights and biological traits.
In medieval times, 'heritable' meant your land could be passed to your heirs, but today it usually describes genes—yet ironically, heritable doesn't always mean 'inherited by everyone' since environment matters too!
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