used to describe the relationship between father and child that continues in a family with each generation, or something that is based on this relationship 父子相传的;父系的 In that society, inheritance of land is patrilineal (= the children get the land that their father owned). 在那个社会,土地继承是父传子的。
Word Originearly 20th cent.: from Latin pater, patr- ‘father’ + lineal.