Inheritant

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A person who is entitled to receive property, a title or a legacy from someone who has died ; describing a holder of a right to take possession of an estate by succession
2. Someone who takes over a legacy, estate or rank passed down from an earlier owner ; qualifying for or possessing a claim to property passed on after death
3. The one who gets assets or a title that come down from a previous holder ; relating to the right to claim goods or rank transmitted through succession

Etymology: The root of "inheritant" is the Latin "heres," meaning heir. Latin built "hereditas," inheritance, from it, and "inhereditare," to make someone an heir. Old French turned that into "enheriter," which English adopted as "inherit," originally a legal word for taking possession of an estate by right of blood or succession. "Inheritant" adds the suffix "-ant," which English took from the Latin present participle ending "-ans," used to form adjectives and nouns describing someone who performs an action or is in a state. So an inheritant is one who inherits, or who is currently holding something by inheritance. The word is uncommon today. "Heir" and "inheritor" are far more familiar, and "inheritant" mostly survives in older legal and literary writing.