In the context of object-oriented programming inheritance is a fundamental concept that allows a new class to inherit attributes and methods from an existing class. By doing so the new class known as the child class or subclass can reuse and extend the functionality of the parent class or superclass. In simpler terms inheritance enables us to create a hierarchy of classes where properties and behaviors can be shared and passed down from one class to another. In the code snippet below we have a parent class called `Animal` with attributes and methods related to all animals. We then create a child class called `Dog` that inherits from the `Animal` class. The `Dog` class inherits the properties and methods of the `Animal` class while also having its own specific traits. class Animal: def __init__(self species): self.species = species def make_sound(self): pass class Dog(Animal): def __init__(self species breed): super().__init__(species) self.breed = breed def make_sound(self): return Woof! In this example `Dog` inherits the `species` attribute from the `Animal` class and defines its own unique `breed` attribute. The `make_sound` method is also overridden in the child class to provide a specific bark sound for dogs. Ultimately inheritance promotes code reusability readability and helps in creating a more efficient and organized code structure.