heir

English

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Inheritance

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• heire (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (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

heir (plural heirs, feminine heiress)

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

   Synonyms: (law) beneficiary, inheritor

   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I am my father's heir and only son.

   • 1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469:

     As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]

   • 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.

   • 2023 January 16, Evan Osnos, “The Getty Family’s Trust Issues”, in The New Yorker‎, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-16:

     In ancient Greece, the Spartans developed rules that consolidated property into a narrow class of heirs, while the growing population of people left behind were reclassified as hypomeiones—inferiors.

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

   Synonym: inheritor

   Coordinate term: spare

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

   • 2022 September 16, Megan Specia, “Prince William Moves Into the Spotlight as Heir to the Throne”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-30:

     Now, after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, William, 40, is the Prince of Wales and the heir to the British throne.

   • 2023 July 4, Lucy Mangan, “The King Who Never Was review – the gripping tale of the first royal to be arrested ’since Marie Antoinette’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-06:

     Vittorio Emanuele, the Italian throne's last heir, was apprehended in 1978 after a teen died from a gunshot on an exclusive island.

3. A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:successor

   • 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. , volume I, London: Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     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:

     "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, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-07-27, page 12:

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

Derived terms

Translations

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

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje n)

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

Derived terms

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”)