heir
part of speech
noun (an heir, heirs)
meaning for a pupil
1) A person who will receive someone's money, house or other property when that person dies, as in «She is heir to the farm». tree →
2) The person who will become king, queen or ruler next, as in «the heir to the throne». tree →
3) Someone who carries on another person's work or ideas. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons, kings and queens worried about having an heir; Henry VIII's search for a son is a famous example. In the news, the heir to the British throne is the next in line. In law and family life, an heir inherits property. In stories, a lost heir often finds out who they are.
examples
- Prince William is the heir to the throne. tree →
- Henry VIII wanted a son as his heir. tree →
- She was the only heir to her uncle's fortune. tree →
- In the story, the orphan turned out to be the lost heir of the kingdom. tree →
- The farm passed to the oldest heir. tree →
- He saw himself as the heir to his grandad's woodworking skills. tree →
- Take my daughter; be my heir; rule my kingdom. tree →
note
The h is silent: say «air», so it takes «an»: «an heir». Homophones: «air» and «ere». An «heirloom» is a treasure passed down a family. «Heiress» is an old word for a woman heir.
In the corpora
- Hath he no heir?
- For an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «heir» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.