heritage
16
3.7
- noun
- /ˈhɛrɪtɪdʒ/
- Specialized
:
herencia
- The family home was considered part of their heritage and was passed down through generations.
- ethnic heritage
- national heritage
- cultural heritage
Examples
-
If we now desire a competence for our old age, a small heritage for our children, we have every right to earn it.
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People find out their exact family heritage.
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There can be no question that the right to rule over them is the heritage of his son.
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Well, we're not in the business of putting a price on the nation's heritage.
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My mother was the guardian of her heritage: furniture, documents, old silver.
Fiction book (2002) -
We dress in honor of this great old mansion's heritage.
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And don't forget, these woods are your heritage.
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Participants who endorsed both European and non-European heritage were classified as having mixed ethnic heritage.
Academic text (2005) -
She inherited a valuable heritage of paintings and artifacts from her grandmother.
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Many people feel a strong connection to their cultural heritage and want to preserve it for future generations.
Synonyms
75
3.2
Money or property left to someone when a person dies
16
6.1
A gift of possessions left to someone in a will
3
8.2
Property passed down in a family or left to a church
Compounds
11
3.7
Traditions, objects, and customs people keep and pass on to future generations
- Slang
A background combining traditions from different cultures and countries
Shared cultural traditions seen in music, food, and buildings from Turkish and Albanian people
Traditions, history, and way of life of the Viking people, like their stories and tools
Surface Forms
Morphology
heritage = inherit (transparent) = herit + age
This sense (property or estate passed down) maps directly onto the concept of inheritance, so learners who know 'inherit' or 'inheritance' can readily relate it to 'heritage'.
Etymology
Heritage comes from the Latin root heres, meaning 'heir', and from an old word for 'inheritance', so it originally meant what a person receives from their family. That's why heritage can mean the property, title, or estate you legally get from your ancestors.