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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

heir.

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

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɛə̯/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɛə̯]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɜː/[ˈɜː]
  1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.

    My brother is the heir to our childhood house and yet has no interest in it.
  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.

Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈɛə̯/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɛə̯]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɜː/[ˈɜː]
  1. To inherit.

    ambitransitive
Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.