heir

• heire (obsolete)

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

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

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

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, 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.

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.

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:successor

   • 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.

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.

• legatee
• devisee

• Hire, ReHi, hire, rehi

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heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje n)

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

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

heir (plural heires)

1. heir

• 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)

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

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

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“hair”)

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“army”)

heir

1. Alternative form of hire (“her”)

heir (plural heires or heiren)

1. Alternative form of here (“haircloth”)

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“here”)

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“their”)

hèir

1. Alternative spelling of hiir.