heir

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: âr, IPA^(key): /ɛəɹ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: air, ere, Ayr

Noun

heir (plural heirs)

1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     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.
3. A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
   • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

     And I his heir in misery alone.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), 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.

Related terms

Terms related to heir

• 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)

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

• Aragonese: hereu m
• Armenian: ժառանգ (hy) (žaṙang)
• Asturian: herederu m
• Basque: jaraunsle, oinordeko, oinorde
• Bulgarian: наследник (bg) m (naslednik)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) 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)
• Esperanto: heredanto
• Extremaduran: hereeru
• Finnish: perillinen (fi), perijä (fi)
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f
• Galician: herdeiro m
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Erbe (de) m
• Greek: κληρονόμος (el) m, f (klironómos)
• Hebrew: יורש‎‎ (he) m, יורשת‎‎ f
• Hindi: वारिस (hi) (vāris), वारिस (hi) (vāris)
• Hungarian: örökös (hu), örökös (hu)
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Irish: oidhre m, beangán m
• Italian: erede (it) m
• Japanese: 相続人 (そうぞくにん, sōzokunin), 跡取り (あととり, atotori)

• Khmer: អ្នកទទួលមរតក (’nâkâttuŏlmôrtâk)|tr=neak tɔtuəl mɔrədɑk
• Korean: 상속인 (sangsogin)
• Latin: hērēs (la) m
• Malay: pewaris, waris
• Maori: whākapi, kaiwhakakapi, kairīwhi
• Norwegian: arving m
• Persian: وارِث‎‎ (fa)
• 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
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: derbnik m

• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvtagare, arvinge (sv)
• Thai: ทายาท (taa-yâat)
• Turkish: varis (tr), mirasçı (tr)
• Ukrainian: наслі́дник m (naslídnyk), наслі́дниця f (naslídnycja)
• 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: наследник (bg) (naslednik)
• Catalan: hereu (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

• 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, f (klironómos)
• Hebrew: יורש‎‎ (he) m, 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
• Spanish: heredero (es) m
• Swahili: mrithi (sw)
• Swedish: arvinge (sv)
• Thai: รัชทายาท (rát-chá-taa-yâat)
• Welsh: aer (cy) m, aerod m pl

successor in a role

• Czech: nástupce m
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), manttelinperijä
• French: héritier (fr) m, héritière (fr) f, successeur (fr)
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) m, f (diádochos)
• Hebrew: יורש‎‎ (he) m, 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)
• Spanish: sucesor (es) m
• Thai: ผู้สืบทอด (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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} ereditiero m, ^{(please verify)} ereditiera f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} heredero m, ^{(please verify)} heredera f

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} వారసుడు 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.
   • Quoted in 1950, 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

Terms derived from heir

• heirbaan

• heirkracht

• heirmacht

• heirschare