heir

English

Alternative forms

• heire (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English heir, from Anglo-Norman eir, heir, from Latin hērēs.

Pronunciation

• enPR: âr, IPA^(key): /ɛɚ/
• IPA^(key): /ɛə/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: air, Ayr, ere, eyre, are (unit of measurement); err (one pronunciation); e'er (US)

Noun

heir (plural heirs, feminine heiress)

1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     I am my father's heir and only son.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

2. One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.

   As the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales is a very public figure.

3. A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
   • Template:RQ:Pope Odyssey
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     "I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came […] and the Tenth Street house wasn't half big enough; and 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. […]"

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

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

Synonyms

• (one who inherits property): beneficiary (law), inheritor
• (one who inherits title): inheritor
• (successor in a role): See also Thesaurus:successor

Related terms

• heir apparent
• heir-at-law
• heiress
• heir general
• heirloom
• heir of the body
• heir of the line
• heir portioner
• heir presumptive
• hereditary
• heritage
• inherit
• inheritance
• inheritor

 

Translations

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

• Albanian: trashëgimtar (sq) m
• Arabic: وَارِث m (wāriṯ), وَارِثَة f (wāriṯa)

  Egyptian Arabic: وارس m (wāris)

  Moroccan Arabic: ورتة f (wərəta) (all the heirs)

• Aragonese: hereu m
• Armenian: ժառանգ (hy) (žaṙang)
• Asturian: herederu m
• Azerbaijani: varis (az)
• Basque: jaraunsle, oinordeko, oinorde
• Belarusian: насле́днік m (nasljédnik), насле́дніца f (nasljédnica)
• Bulgarian: насле́дник (bg) m (naslédnik), насле́дничка f (naslédnička)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) m, hereter m
• Cebuano: manununod
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繼承人／继承人 (zh) (jìchéngrén), 继承人 (zh) (jìchéngrén), 繼承者／继承者 (zh) (jìchéngzhě), 继承者 (zh) (jìchéngzhě)

• Czech: dědic (cs) m, dědička (cs) f
• Danish: arving (da) c
• Dutch: erfgenaam (nl) m
• Egyptian: (jwꜥw)
• Esperanto: heredanto
• Estonian: pärija
• Extremaduran: hereeru
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), perijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f, successeur (fr) m, successeuse (fr) f, successrice (fr) f
• Galician: herdeiro m, heree m (archaic)
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Erbe (de) m, Erbin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌾𐌰 m (arbja), 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌾𐍉 f (arbjō)
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) m or f (klironómos)

  Ancient: κληρόνομος m (klērónomos)

• Hebrew: יוֹרֵשׁ (he) m (yorésh), יורשת f
• Higaonon: manonod
• Hindi: वारिस (hi) m (vāris)
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)
• Hunsrik: Erreb m
• Icelandic: erfingi (is) m
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Irish: oidhre m, beangán m
• Italian: erede (it) m or f, ereditiera (it) f
• Japanese: 相続人 (ja) (そうぞくにん, sōzokunin), 跡取り (あととり, atotori), 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Kabuverdianu: erderu
• Kazakh: мұрагер (mūrager)
• Khmer: ទាយាទ (km) (tiəyiət)
• Korean: 상속인(相續人) (sangsogin), 계승자(繼承者) (gyeseungja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mîratgir (ku), wêris (ku)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: мураскор (muraskor), мурасчы (murascı)
• Lao: ທາຍາດ (thā nyāt)
• Latin: hērēs (la) m or f
• Latvian: mantinieks m, mantiniece f
• Lithuanian: įpėdinis m, paveldėtojas m, paveldėtoja f
• Macedonian: наследник m (naslednik), наследничка f (naslednička)
• Malay: pewaris (ms), waris (ms)
• Maori: whākapi, kaiwhakakapi, kairīwhi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arving m

• Occitan: eiretièr m
• Pashto: وارث m (wāres)
• Persian: وارث (fa) (vâres)
• Plautdietsch: Oaw f
• Polish: spadkobierca (pl) m, spadkobierczyni (pl) f, dziedzic (pl) m, dziedzicka f, sukcesor (pl) m, sukcesorka f
• Portuguese: herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: moștenitor (ro) m, moștenitoare (ro) f
• Russian: насле́дник (ru) m (naslédnik), насле́дница (ru) f (naslédnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: oighre m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́следнӣк m, на́сљеднӣк m, на́следница f, на́сљедница f

  Roman: následnīk (sh) m, násljednīk (sh) m, následnica f, násljednica (sh) f

• Slovak: dedič m, dedička f
• Slovene: dedič (sl) m, dedinja f, naslednik m, naslednica f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: derbnik m

• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvtagare (sv) c, arvinge (sv) c, arvtagerska (sv) c (heiress)
• Tagalog: tagapagmana
• Tajik: ворис (voris)
• Thai: ทายาท (taa-yâat)
• Turkish: varis (tr), mirasçı (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎐𐎈𐎍 (nḥl)
• Ukrainian: спадкоє́мець m (spadkojémecʹ), спадкоє́миця f (spadkojémycja), наслі́дник m (naslídnyk), наслі́дниця f (naslídnycja)
• Urdu: وارث m (vāris)
• Uyghur: ۋارىس (waris)
• Uzbek: voris (uz), merosxoʻr (uz)
• Vietnamese: người thừa kế (vi)
• Walloon: eritî (wa) m, eritresse f
• Welsh: etifedd m, aer (cy) m, aerod m pl

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

• Bulgarian: насле́дник (bg) m (naslédnik), насле́дничка f (naslédnička)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 儲／储 (zh) (chǔ), 储 (zh) (chǔ, chú)

• Czech: dědic (cs) m, dědička (cs) f
• Dutch: opvolger (nl) m
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), vallanperijä, kruununperillinen (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• Galician: herdeiro
• German: Thronerbe (de) m
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) m or f (klironómos)

  Ancient: κληρόνομος m (klērónomos)

• Hebrew: יוֹרֵשׁ (he) m (yorésh), יורשת f
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)
• Irish: oidhre m, beangán m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Korean: 계승자(繼承者) (gyeseungja)
• Maori: kaiwhakakapi, whākapi
• Polish: następca (pl) m, następczyni (pl) f, sukcesor (pl) m, sukcesorka f
• Portuguese: herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: moștenitor (ro) m, moștenitoare (ro) f
• Russian: прее́мник (ru) m (prejémnik), прее́мница (ru) f (prejémnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: oighre m
• Slovak: dedič m, dedička f
• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvinge (sv) c
• Thai: รัชทายาท (th) (rát-chá-taa-yâat)
• Welsh: aer (cy) m, aerod m pl

successor in a role

• Czech: nástupce m, nástupkyně f
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), manttelinperijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f, successeur (fr)
• Galician: sucesor, herdeiro
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) m or f (diádochos)
• Hebrew: יוֹרֵשׁ (he) m (yorésh), יורשת f
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)
• Italian: erede (it) m, successore (it) m
• Japanese: 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: kawa (mi), whākapi, kaiwhakakapi
• Polish: następca (pl) m, następczyni (pl) f
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m, herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: succesor (ro) m, succesoare (ro) f, moștenitor (ro) m, moștenitoare (ro) f
• Russian: прее́мник (ru) m (prejémnik), прее́мница (ru) f (prejémnica)
• Slovak: nástupca m, nástupkyňa f
• Spanish: sucesor (es) m
• Thai: ผู้สืบทอด

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ereditiero m, ^{(please verify)} ereditiera (it) f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} heredero (es) m, ^{(please verify)} heredera (es) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} వారసుడు (te) m (vārasuḍu), ^{(please verify)} వారసురాలు f (vārasurālu)

Verb

heir (third-person singular simple present heirs, present participle heiring, simple past and past participle heired)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To inherit.
   • 1950, quoted in Our Garst family in America (page 27)

     […] Leonard Houtz & John Myer to be executors to this my last will & testament & lastly my children shall heir equally, one as much as the other.

See also

• legatee
• devisee

Anagrams

• Hire, ReHi, hire, rehi

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje n)

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

Derived terms

• heirbaan
• heirkracht
• heirmacht
• heirschare

 

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman heir, aire (Old French eir), from Latin hēres (“heir”).

Noun

heir (plural heires)

1. heir

Alternative forms

• heire, heier, eir, eire, eier, eiȝer, hair, haire, air, aire, are, her, here, hier, heyr, heyre, heyer, eyr, eyre, eyer, eyur, hayr, hayre, ayr, ayre, ayer, ayere, ayar, hyer
• nayr, nayre, nayer, nere (by rebracketing of an heir)

Descendants

• English: heir
• Scots: heir
• → Welsh: aer

References

• “heir, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“hair”)

Etymology 3

Noun

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“army”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

heir

1. Alternative form of hire (“her”)

Etymology 5

Noun

heir (plural heires or heiren)

1. Alternative form of here (“haircloth”)

Etymology 6

Adverb

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“here”)

Etymology 7

Determiner

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“their”)

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Westrobothnian

Verb

1. .