heirとは意味・読み方・使い方

語源

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

発音

• (米国発音) enPR: âr, IPA^(key): /ɛɚ/
• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ɛə/
  • 韻: -ɛə(ɹ)
  • 異形同音異義語: air, Ayr, ere, eyre, are (unit of measurement); err (one pronunciation); e'er (米国発音)

名詞

heir (複数形 heirs, feminine heiress)

1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     I am my father's heir and only son.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

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.
   • 1725, Homer; [Elijah Fenton], transl., “Book I”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646:

     And I his heir in misery alone.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:

     "I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came […] and the Tenth Street house wasn't half big enough; and a dreadful speculative builder built this house and persuaded Austin to buy it. Oh, dear, and here we are among the rich and great; and the steel kings and copper kings and oil kings and their heirs and dauphins. […]"

   • 2013 May 11, “What a waste”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 12:

     India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs.

同意語

• (one who inherits property): beneficiary (law), inheritor
• (one who inherits title): inheritor
• (successor in a role): See also Thesaurus:successor

関連する語

動詞

heir (三人称単数 現在形 heirs, 現在分詞 heiring, 過去形および過去分詞形 heired)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To inherit.
   • 1950, quoted in Our Garst family in America (page 27)

     […] Leonard Houtz & John Myer to be executors to this my last will & testament & lastly my children shall heir equally, one as much as the other.

参考

• legatee
• devisee

アナグラム

• Hire, ReHi, hire, rehi