HOW TO PRONOUNCE
heir
/ɛɹ/
Press play to hear how to pronounce heir.
American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
Watch on YouTube ↗
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS
Start with the vowel; the h is silent.
It sounds like air. Begin with the vowel, leaving the h silent.
TRY SAYING
“The heir to the estate.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗What does heir mean?
noun
- Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
- One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.
- A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
More meanings (1)
verb
- To inherit.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ɛɹ/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
This aunt, who had remained unmarried, was very rich on the maternal side, and her sister’s son was her natural heir.
Shakespeare pronounced “Venus and Adonis” “the first heir of his invention,” apparently implying that it was his first effort at literary composition.
More book examples (3)
The Prince was advised to marry again, on the chance that an heir might be born to the large fortune he possessed.
The cause was simply, that a relation, a very distant one, to whom he was heir, had died intestate, leaving a considerable fortune.
There are many cases constantly occurring in which the birth of an heir is a most desirable thing in a person's life.