US /ɛr/ UK /eə/
Homophones
noun

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    a person legally entitled to inherit property or rank

    As the eldest son, he was the rightful heir to the estate.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · a person legally entitled... inheritorsuccessorbeneficiaryscionlegatee
Opposites
Word family
Derived forms heiressheirdomheirlessheirship

Etymology

From Middle English heir, from Old French heir, oir, from Latin heres (stem hered-) ('heir, successor'), from a Proto-Indo-European root *ghe- ('to leave, be empty').

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