Biparentally

Biparentally is an adverb used to describe actions, inheritance, or phenomena that involve two parents. It derives from biparental, formed from bi- meaning two and parental relating to a parent. The term is most common in scientific and academic writing, where precision about parental contribution is important.

In genetics, biparentally inherited refers to genetic material transmitted from both a mother and a father. The nuclear genome of most sexually reproducing organisms is biparentally inherited, with offspring receiving one chromosome set from each parent and undergoing genetic recombination. By contrast, many organellar genomes, such as mitochondrial DNA in animals and plastid DNA in plants, are inherited uniparentally (typically from the mother). Paternal leakage or rare biparental inheritance of organelles can occur in some cases, but such events are exceptional.

In social and developmental contexts, biparentally can describe caregiving, support, or family structures in which two parents jointly participate in raising children or providing resources. The term is often used in contrast to single-parent scenarios, particularly in research examining child outcomes, family dynamics, or policy implications related to two-parent involvement.

Etymology notes: biparental combines the prefix bi- with parental, the latter tracing to the Latin word parens meaning a parent. The adverbial form, biparentally, follows standard English derivation by adding -ly to the adjective biparental.