Word of the Day

: October 27, 2009

inhere

verb in-HEER

What It Means

: to be inherent : to be a fixed element or attribute

inhere in Context

Competitiveness inheres in the successful athlete's nature.

Did You Know?

You're probably familiar with "inherent," the adjective meaning "part of the constitution or natural character of something," but were you aware of its less common relative "inhere"? This verb looks like it could be a back-formation of "inherent" (a back-formation is a word created by removing a prefix or suffix from an existing word). But "inhere" is actually the older word. It first appeared in print in the 15th century, while "inherent" didn't show up until the late 16th century. Both are derived from the Latin verb "inhaerēre" ("to inhere"), which was itself formed by combining "in-" with "haerēre," a verb meaning "to adhere."