mindmap root((遗产)) heritage may apply to anything that is passed on not only to an heir or heirs but to the succeeding generation or generations: want, the ~ of waste. inheritance refers to what passes from parents to children, such as money, property, or character traits, or to the fact or means of inheriting: brown eyes, her ~ from her father. patrimony applies to the money or property inherited from one's father, but also generally to one's ancestral inheritance: the intellectual ~ of the Renaissance. birthright generally implies the rights to which one is entitled by nativity, as by being a native-born citizen or a descendant of a particular family: honor that was their ~.