Suggest an edit

Improve this article

Refine the answer for “Which properties are inherited by default?”. Your changes go to moderation before they’re published.

Approval required

Content

What you’re changing

Title (EN)

Short answer (EN)

Shown above the full answer for quick recall.

Answer (EN)

By default, mostly **typography, text, and a few properties related to visibility and the cursor** are inherited. Key groups:

---

### **Inherited:**

**Text and fonts**

- `font-size`
- `font-family`
- `font-style`
- `font-weight`
- `line-height`
- `letter-spacing`
- `word-spacing`
- `text-align`
- `text-transform`
- `text-indent`
- `white-space`
- `text-shadow`

**Color**

- `color`

**List**

- `list-style`, `list-style-type`, `list-style-position`, `list-style-image`

**Table and block-level text features**

- `quotes`

**Cursor and interaction**

- `cursor`
- `visibility`

**Others**

- `pointer-events` (partially)
- `direction`

---

### **Not inherited:**

- `margin`, `padding`, `border`
- `width`, `height`
- `display`
- `position`, `top/right/bottom/left`
- `background-*`
- `flex-*`, `grid-*`

---

### **Conclusion**

The properties that are inherited are the ones it makes sense to **pass to children for consistent text styling**, while anything that affects the **box model, sizing, and positioning** is **not inherited**.

If you need to force a property to inherit, you can set:

```css
property: inherit;
```

And to reset it to its initial value:

```css
property: initial;
```

Markdown · drag & drop images · ⌘B / ⌘I shortcuts162 words

For the reviewer

Note to the moderator (optional)

Visible only to the moderator. Helps review go faster.