heir

English

Alternative forms

• heire (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: âr, IPA^(key): /ɛəɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /eə/

  • 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, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [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.
   • 1725, Homer; [Elijah Fenton], transl., “Book I”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646:

     And I his heir in misery alone.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     "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

• Arabic: وَرِيث‎ m (warīṯ)

  Egyptian Arabic: وارس‎ m (wāris)

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

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

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

• Czech: dědic (cs) m
• Danish: arving (da) c
• Dutch: erfgenaam (nl)
• Egyptian: (jwꜥw)
• Esperanto: heredanto
• Extremaduran: hereeru
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), perijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• Galician: herdeiro m, heree m (archaic)
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Erbe (de) m
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) m or f (klironómos)

  Ancient: κληρόνομος m (klērónomos)

• Hebrew: יוֹרֵשׁ‎ (he) m (yorésh), יורשת‎ f
• Hindi: वारिस (hi) m (vāris)
• Hungarian: örökös (hu)
• Hunsrik: Erreb m
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Irish: oidhre m, beangán m
• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 相続人 (ja) (そうぞくにん, sōzokunin), 跡取り (あととり, atotori)
• Kabuverdianu: erderu

• Khmer: អ្នកទទួលមរតក (ʼnâkâttuŏlmôrtâk)
• Korean: 상속인 (sangsogin)
• Latin: hērēs (la) m
• Macedonian: наследник m (naslednik)
• Malay: pewaris, waris
• Maori: whākapi, kaiwhakakapi, kairīwhi
• Norwegian: arving m
• Occitan: eiretièr m
• Persian: وارث‎ (fa) (vâres)
• Plautdietsch: Oaw f
• Polish: spadkobierca (pl) m, dziedzic (pl) m
• Portuguese: herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: moștenitor (ro) m
• Russian: насле́дник (ru) m (naslédnik), насле́дница (ru) f (naslédnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: oighre m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́следнӣк m, на́следница f

  Roman: následnīk (sh) m, následnica f

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

  Lower Sorbian: derbnik m

• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvtagare (sv), arvinge (sv)
• Tagalog: tagapagmana
• Thai: ทายาท (taa-yâat)
• Turkish: varis (tr), mirasçı (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎐𐎈𐎍 (nḥl)
• Ukrainian: наслі́дник m (naslídnyk), наслі́дниця f (naslídnycja)
• Urdu: وارث‎ m (vāris)
• 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)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 儲 (zh), 储 (zh) (chǔ, chú)

• Czech: dědic (cs) m
• Dutch: opvolger (nl)
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), vallanperijä, kruununperillinen (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• German: Thronerbe 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

• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 継承者 (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Korean: 계승자 (gyeseungja)
• Maori: kaiwhakakapi, whākapi
• Polish: następca (pl) m, sukcesor m
• Portuguese: herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: moștenitor (ro) m
• 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)
• Thai: รัชทายาท (th) (rát-chá-taa-yâat)
• Welsh: aer (cy) m, aerod m pl

successor in a role

• Czech: nástupce m
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), manttelinperijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f, successeur (fr)
• 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 (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)

• Maori: kawa (mi), whākapi, kaiwhakakapi
• Polish: następca (pl) m
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m, herdeiro (pt) m
• Romanian: succesor (ro) m, moștenitor (ro) m
• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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

• 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

hèir

1. Alternative spelling of hiir.