The output of a log statement of logger C will go to all the appenders in C and its ancestors. This is the meaning of the term "appender additivity".

However, if an ancestor of logger C, say P, has the additivity flag set to false, then C's output will be directed to all the appenders in C and it's ancestors upto and including P but not the appenders in any of the ancestors of P.

Loggers have their additivity flag set to true by default.

Source: Apache LOG4J