heredar

Heredar is a Spanish verb that means “to receive as a legacy” or “to pass on” something, whether material, cultural, biological, or conceptual. In its most common sense it refers to the transmission of property, rights, obligations, or titles from a deceased person to their heirs, a process governed in many jurisdictions by civil‑law codes and succession regulations. The heir, or heredero, acquires the assets and debts of the deceased estate, subject to legal formalities such as the declaration of heirs, the opening of probate, and the payment of any applicable taxes.

Etymologically, heredar derives from the Latin verb *heredare*, itself a derivative of *heredes* (“heir”). The term entered Spanish during the medieval period, retaining its legal connotations while also expanding metaphorically to denote the passing of intangible elements such as traditions, customs, or knowledge from one generation to another.

Beyond the legal domain, “heredar” is employed in a figurative sense to describe the transmission of traits, behaviors, or cultural practices. In biology, it parallels the concept of inheritance, describing how genetic information is passed from parents to offspring. In computer science, the verb is used to translate the English term “inherit,” referring to the mechanism by which a class derives properties and methods from a parent class in object‑oriented programming languages.

In everyday usage, the verb appears in expressions such as “heredar una casa,” “heredar valores familiares,” or “heredar código,” each reflecting the core idea of receiving something that originated elsewhere and continuing its existence in a new context.