heir

1 of 2

noun

ˈer 

1

: one who receives property from an ancestor : one who is entitled to inherit property

was her father's sole heir

2

: one who inherits or is entitled to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office

heir to the throne

3

: one who receives or is entitled to receive something other than property from a parent or predecessor

saw himself as the logical heir to the slain dictator

heirless

ˈer-ləs 

adjective

heirship

ˈer-ˌship 

noun

heir

2 of 2

verb

heired; heiring; heirs

transitive verb

chiefly dialectal

: inherit

Synonyms

Noun

• heir at law
• inheritor
• legatee

Examples of heir in a Sentence

Noun

His heirs could inherit millions of dollars.

The king left no heirs when he died.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The duchy is a private estate owned by the British royal family, and was established by King Edward III in 1337 as a means to provide income for the heir to the throne. —Janine Henni, People.com, 28 Jan. 2025

Their young son, now the sole heir, faces the daunting task of ruling a kingdom teetering on the edge of collapse. —Leo Barraclough, Variety, 27 Jan. 2025

Verb

After watching the 1993 Tom Cruise thriller The Firm, which features the Cayman Islands, Hammer’s father, Michael, heir to a multimillion-dollar oil fortune, relocated his family to the tax haven. —ELLE, 8 Feb. 2023

Who: Daughter of legendary rock singer Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, heir to Graceland and her father’s estate. —Mary Colurso | [e-mail], al, 2 Feb. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English eir, eyre, heir, borrowed from Anglo-French heir, going back to Vulgar Latin *hērem, *hēre, taken as oblique forms (by declension reassignment) of Latin hērēd-, hērēs, from hēr- (probably going back to Indo-European *ǵ^heh₁ro- "abandoned, derelict," whence also Greek chêros "widowed, orphaned, bereaved," chérā "widow") + -ēd-, perhaps a suffixal element

Note: Latin hērēd- has been directly compared with the base of Greek chērōstaí "kinsmen inheriting the property of a person lacking closer relatives" (with the agent suffix -tēs). Opposing the interpretation of *-ēd-/*-ōd- as a suffixal element is an older explanation that sees the etymon as a compound of *ǵ^heh₁ro- and the verbal base *h₁ed- "eat"—the whole hence meaning approximately "that which devours what is left behind." (The Greek outcome would then be from *ǵ^heh₁ro-h₁d-, with zero grade of the verb.) The adjective *ǵ^heh₁ro- has been taken as a derivative of the verbal base *ǵ^heh₁- "let go, leave behind" (see go entry 1).

Verb

Middle English erren, heyren, derivative of eir, eyre heir entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing heir

• co-heir
• heir apparent
• heir at law
• heir presumptive

Kids Definition

heir

noun

ˈa(ə)r,

ˈe(ə)r

1

: a person who inherits or has the right to inherit property

2

: a person who has legal claim to a title or a throne when the person holding it dies

heirship

-ˌship

noun

Legal Definition

heir

noun

ˈar 

: one who inherits or is entitled to succeed to the possession of property after the death of its owner: as

a

: one who by operation of law inherits the property and especially the real property of a person who dies without leaving a valid will

—used in jurisdictions whose law is based on English common law

called also heir at law, heir general, legal heir

compare issue

b

in the civil law of Louisiana : one who succeeds to the estate of a person by will or especially by operation of law see also intestacy, unworthy compare ancestor, devisee, legatee, next of kin, successor

— apparent heir

: heir apparent in this entry

— beneficiary heir

in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who exercises the benefit of inventory which limits the amount of his or her liability for the decedent's debts

— bodily heir

: heir of the body in this entry

— forced heir

: an heir who cannot be disinherited except for causes recognized by law

especially, in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who because of youth or mental or physical infirmity cannot care for himself or herself and who cannot be deprived of his or her lawful portion of the decedent's estate by disinherison without just cause see also legitime

— heir ab intestato \ -​ˌab-​ˌin-​tes-​ˈtā-​tō, -​ˌäb-​ˌin-​tes-​ˈtä-​tō \ plural heirs ab intestato

in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir that takes only by operation of the laws governing intestate succession

— heir apparent plural heirs apparent

: an heir whose right to an inheritance cannot be voided or undone except by exclusion under a valid will if he or she survives the ancestor

called also apparent heir

compare heir presumptive in this entry

— heir at law

: heir sense a

— heir general plural heirs general

: heir sense a

— heir in tail

: an heir to a fee-tail estate

called also heir of entail

— heir of the body

: an heir who is a lineal descendant especially as contrasted with a collateral descendant

called also bodily heir

— heir presumptive plural heirs presumptive

: an heir whose right to inherit may be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative or by exclusion under a valid will

called also presumptive heir

compare heir apparent in this entry

— instituted heir

in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who is named in the will but whose legacy will fall to a substitute legatee under a vulgar substitution in the event that he or she refuses the legacy or dies before the testator

called also instituted legatee

— irregular heir

in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who inherits a right of action to the estate as distinguished from seisin

Note: This class of heirs was eliminated as of January 1, 1982. Formerly, a decedent's illegitimate children and spouse were considered irregular heirs.

— legal heir

: heir sense a

specifically, in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who receives seisin immediately after the death of the intestate by operation of law compare irregular heir in this entry

Note: Prior to 1982 the Louisiana Civil Code distinguished between legal and irregular heirs who were required to go through an additional procedure in order to receive possession of the property. This division of heirs was eliminated in the 1981 revision of the Civil Code.

— natural heir

: an heir (as a child) whose status as an heir arises from especially close blood relationship as distinguished from one (as the state) whose status arises by operation of statute

— presumptive heir

: heir presumptive in this entry

— pretermitted heir

: a descendant of a testator who would be an heir under the laws of intestacy but who is not named to take under the will

Note: Most states have statutes requiring a share of the estate to go to a pretermitted heir, especially one born after the execution of the will, on the assumption that the omission was unintentional.

— right heir

: an heir by blood

: the particular heir granted or devised an estate tail as distinguished from the heirs in general

— testamentary heir

in the civil law of Louisiana : an heir who inherits under a will

heirless adjective

heirship noun