bequest vs heritage

bequest

noun
  • A person's inheritance; an amount of property given by will. 

  • The transfer of property upon the owner's death according to the will of the deceased. 

  • That which has been handed down or transmitted. 

  • That which is left by will; a legacy. 

  • The act of bequeathing or leaving by will. 

verb
  • To give as a bequest; bequeath. 

heritage

noun
  • An inheritance; property that may be inherited. 

  • A tradition; a practice or set of values that is passed down from preceding generations through families or through institutional memory. 

  • Having a certain background, such as growing up with a second language. 

  • A birthright; the status acquired by birth, especially of but not exclusive to the firstborn. 

How often have the words bequest and heritage occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )