heir

English

Etymology

From Middle English heres, from Old French eir, heir, from Latin hēres (genitive hēredis).

Pronunciation

• enPR: âr, IPA: /eə(ɹ)/, X-SAMPA: /e@(r)/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(r)
• Homophones: air, ere

Noun

heir (plural heirs)

Wikipedia

1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
   • Shakespeare

     I am my father's heir and only son.

2. One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.
3. A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
   • Alexander Pope

     And I his heir in misery alone.

   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 1/2, The Younger Set^[1]:

     “[…] a dreadful speculative builder built this house and persuaded Austin to buy it. Oh dear, and here we are among the rich and great ; and the steel kings and copper kings and oil kings and their heirs and dauphins. Do you like the house ?”

   • 2013 May 11, “What a waste”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 12: 

     India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs.

Related terms

• legatee
• devisee
• heirloom
• heir apparent

Translations

one who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another

• Arabic: وريث (ar) m
• Armenian: ժառանգ (hy) (žaṙang)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繼承人 (cmn), 继承人 (cmn) (jì​chéng​rén​)

• Czech: dědic (cs) m
• Danish: arving (da) c
• Dutch: erfgenaam (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), perijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (ka) (memkvidre)
• German: Erbe (de) m
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) (klironómos) m and f
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: örökös (hu), örökös (hu)
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Irish: oidhre (ga) m

• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 相続人 (ja) (そうぞくにん, sōzokunin), 跡取り (ja) (あととり, atotori)
• Khmer: អ្នកទទួលមរតក (km) (neak tɔtuəl mɔrədɑk)
• Korean: 상속인 (ko)
• Norwegian: arving (no) m
• Persian: وارِث (fa)
• Polish: spadkobierca (pl) m
• Portuguese: herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: наследник (ru) (naslednik) m
• Scottish Gaelic: oighre (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: naslednik (sh) m, naslednica (sh) f
• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvtagare (sv), arvinge (sv)
• Thai: ทายาท (th) (taayâat)
• Turkish: varis (tr), mirasçı (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

one who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office

• Catalan: hereu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 儲 (cmn), 储 (cmn) (chǔ (Putonghua), chú (Guoyu))

• Czech: dědic (cs) m
• Dutch: opvolger (nl)
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), vallanperijä (fi), kruununperillinen (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• German: Thronerbe (de) m
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) (klironómos) m and f
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)

• Irish: oidhre (ga) m
• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Polish: następca (pl) m, sukcesor (pl) m
• Russian: преемник (ru) (prejémnik) m
• Scottish Gaelic: oighre (gd) m
• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvinge (sv)
• Thai: รัชทายาท (th) (rát taayâat)

successor in a role

• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), manttelinperijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f, successeur (fr)
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) (diádochos) m and f
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)
• Italian: erede (it) m, successore (it) m
• Japanese: 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)

• Polish: następca (pl) m
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m
• Russian: преемник (ru) (prejémnik) m
• Spanish: sucesor (es) m
• Thai: ผู้สืบทอด (th) (pôo sèup tôt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: יורש m, יורשת f
• Italian: ereditiero m, ereditiera f
• Portuguese: herdeiro m, herdeira f
• Spanish: heredero m, heredera f
• Telugu: వారసుడు (vaarasuDu) m, వారసురాలు (vaarasuraalu) f

Anagrams

• hire, rehi, ReHi

---

Dutch

Noun

heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje)

1. (archaic) Alternative spelling of heer (“army”).

Derived terms

• heirbaan
• heirkracht
• heirmacht
• heirschare