Noun His heirs could inherit millions of dollars. The king left no heirs when he died.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
When a great council assembles to pick an heir to the Iron Throne, the narrator points out key figures. Darren Franich, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022 Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, was an impeachment manager during the first impeachment of Trump. Daniel Strauss, The New Republic, 18 Aug. 2022 Pritzker, a billionaire businessman and an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, sought to move past the party squabble. Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2022 Rather than covering the entire contents of Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon starts in the middle of the book, covering the fourth Targaryen king’s rule, and his subsequent search for an heir to the throne. Milan Polk, Men's Health, 17 Aug. 2022 Beau dated Lilly Phipps, an heir to the Phipps family fortune. Adam Entous, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 No one distributes more of the stuff than 76-year-old Richard Uihlein, an heir to the Schlitz beer fortune, and his wife, Elizabeth, 77, who together started a company called Uline in their basement in 1980. Kyle Mullins, Forbes, 3 Aug. 2022 Worlds collide in this historical drama when an heir to a fashion house falls in love with a seamstress. Selena Barrientos, Good Housekeeping, 29 July 2022 The King of Rock 'n' Roll gained an heir to his throne on Feb. 1, 1968, with the birth of the couple's first and only child, Lisa Marie Presley. Nicole Briese, PEOPLE.com, 23 June 2022
Verb
Charles then passed his Prince of Wales title to his eldest son and heir William, making William's wife the Princess of Wales, as his mother Diana once was before. Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2022 As her eldest son, and therefore heir to the throne, the pair had a close relationship.Vogue, 12 Sep. 2022 Alexander Skarsgård will be back as Lukas Matsson, Hope Davis will reprise her role as media heir Sandi Furness, and Arian Moayed and Annabelle Dexter-Jones will reappear as Kendall's frenemy Stewy and love interest Naomi Pierce, respectively. Quinci Legardye, Harper's BAZAAR, 12 Sep. 2022 The pair talked to CNN this week about the series and heir own gutsy moments. Lisa Respers France, CNN, 8 Sep. 2022 Prince Charles, heir to the throne, is now King Charles III, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, is now the Queen Consort. Erica Gonzales, ELLE, 8 Sep. 2022 The decision was taken with the 96-year-old monarch's comfort in mind the source said, adding Prince Charles, heir to the throne, will be attending as planned. Reuters, NBC News, 2 Sep. 2022 This secret has been passed from king to heir since Aegon's time. Emily Burack, Town & Country, 22 Aug. 2022 Viserys isn't pleased with his brother, and a tense argument reveals that Daemon despises his wife, Lady Rhea Royce, heir to Runestone in the Vale of Arryn. Randall Colburn, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2022 See More
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 *ǵheh1ro- "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 *ǵheh1ro- 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 *ǵheh1ro-h1d-, with zero grade of the verb.) The adjective *ǵheh1ro- has been taken as a derivative of the verbal base *ǵheh1- "let go, leave behind" (see go entry 1).
Verb
Middle English erren, heyren, derivative of eir, eyreheir entry 1