Inalienable possession

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Inalienable possession is a relationship between two objects indicating that they are (possibly on a less-than-physical level) connected in some way that cannot be changed. This can be used for family relationships, body parts, and authorship, among other things; it varies from culture to culture, however, so it's often impossible to say that a particular relationship is an example of inalienable possession without specifying the languages for which that holds true.

Both inalienable possession and alienable possession fall under a broader genitive category in most languages, including English, Latin, and Arabic. Observing the distinction is much rarer than ignoring it, though its semantic existence is hardly in doubt.