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// C++ language implementation class A { ... }; // Base class class B : public A { ... }; // B derived from A class C : public B { ... }; // C derived from B

This process can be extended to any number of levels.

This is where one class serves as a superclass (base class) for more than one sub class. For example, a parent class, A, can have two subclasses B and C. Both B and C's parent class is A, but B and C are two separate subclasses.

Hybrid inheritance is when a mix of two or more of the above types of inheritance occurs. An example of this is when a class A has a subclass B which has two subclasses, C and D. This is a mixture of both multilevel inheritance and hierarchal inheritance.

Subclasses, derived classes, heir classes, or child classes are modular derivative classes that inherit one or more language entities from one or more other classes (called superclass, base classes, or parent classes). The semantics of class inheritance vary from language to language, but commonly the subclass automatically inherits the instance variables and member functions of its superclasses.

In C++, the general form of defining a derived class is:cite-ref-14[13]

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