heir
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- heire (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English heir, from Anglo-Norman eir, heir, from Latin hērēs.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (US) enPR: âr, IPA(key): /ɛɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) 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[edit]
heir (plural heirs, feminine heiress)
- 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 […] (First Folio), London: […] 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.
- 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.
- 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[edit]
- (one who inherits property): beneficiary (law), inheritor
- (one who inherits title): inheritor
- (successor in a role): See also Thesaurus:successor
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
one who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another
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one who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office
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successor in a role
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- 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
Verb[edit]
heir (third-person singular simple present heirs, present participle heiring, simple past and past participle heired)
- (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.
- 1950, quoted in Our Garst family in America (page 27)
See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Noun[edit]
heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje n)
Derived terms[edit]
Middle English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Anglo-Norman heir, aire (Old French eir), from Latin hēres (“heir”).
Noun[edit]
heir (plural heires)
Alternative forms[edit]
- 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[edit]
References[edit]
- “heir, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2[edit]
Noun[edit]
heir
- Alternative form of her (“hair”)
Etymology 3[edit]
Noun[edit]
heir
- Alternative form of here (“army”)
Etymology 4[edit]
Pronoun[edit]
heir
- Alternative form of hire (“her”)
Etymology 5[edit]
Noun[edit]
heir (plural heires or heiren)
- Alternative form of here (“haircloth”)
Etymology 6[edit]
Adverb[edit]
heir
- Alternative form of her (“here”)
Etymology 7[edit]
Determiner[edit]
heir
- Alternative form of here (“their”)
Westrobothnian[edit]
Verb[edit]
hèir
- Alternative spelling of hiir.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰeh₁-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɛə(ɹ)/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:People
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch neuter nouns
- Dutch terms with archaic senses
- Middle English terms borrowed from Anglo-Norman
- Middle English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English pronouns
- Middle English adverbs
- Middle English determiners
- enm:People
- Westrobothnian lemmas
- Westrobothnian verbs