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Glite Dictionary
🧬 Believing in heredity 🧬 A heredity believer
hereditarian

hereditarian

9.9
A person who believes that people's traits come mainly from their genes
  • noun
  • /həˈrɛdɪˌtɛriən/
translation icon : hereditarista
  • The debate among scientists continues, but hereditarians emphasize heredity's role in shaping abilities.

Examples

  • Many hereditarians argue that intelligence is largely influenced by genetic factors.

  • On the one hand, hereditarians explain the differences in terms of inherited intellectual inferiority (e.g., Garrett, 1971; Jenson, 1969; Shuey, 1966).

    Academic text (1992)

  • As a hereditarian, she believes that a person's character is shaped primarily by their ancestry.

Surface Forms

hereditarian singular
hereditarian plural

Morphology

hereditarian = heredity (transparent) = heredity + arian

The noun is a straightforward agent/relational formation from 'heredity' + '-arian', denoting a person holding that view.

Etymology

Hereditarian as a noun is built from heredity ('inheritance') and -arian ('a person who supports or believes'), similar to vegetarian. So a hereditarian is a person who believes people's traits, abilities, or behaviour mainly come from what they inherit from their parents.