different between heir vs keir

English

Alternative forms

• heire (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English heir, from Anglo-Norman eir, heir, from Latin h?r?s.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: âr, IPA^(key): /???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /e?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: air, Ayr, ere, eyre, are (unit of measurement); err (one pronunciation); e'er (US)

Noun

heir (plural heirs, feminine heiress)

1. Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
2. One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.

3. A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
   • "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. […]"

Synonyms

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

Related terms

Translations

Verb

heir (third-person singular simple present heirs, present participle heiring, simple past and past participle 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.

See also

• legatee
• devisee

Anagrams

• Hire, ReHi, hire, rehi

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

heir n (plural heiren, diminutive heirtje n)

1. (archaic) Alternative spelling of heer (“army”)

Derived terms

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman heir, aire (Old French eir), from Latin h?res (“heir”).

Noun

heir (plural heires)

1. heir

Alternative forms

• heire, heier, eir, eire, eier, ei?er, hair, haire, air, aire, are, her, here, hier, heyr, heyre, heyer, eyr, eyre, eyer, eyur, hayr, hayre, ayr, ayre, ayer, ayere, ayar, hyer
• nayr, nayre, nayer, nere (by rebracketing of an heir)

Descendants

• English: heir
• Scots: heir
• ? Welsh: aer

References

• “heir, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“hair”)

Etymology 3

Noun

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“army”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

heir

1. Alternative form of hire (“her”)

Etymology 5

Noun

heir (plural heires or heiren)

1. Alternative form of here (“haircloth”)

Etymology 6

Adverb

heir

1. Alternative form of her (“here”)

Etymology 7

Determiner

heir

1. Alternative form of here (“their”)

Westrobothnian

Verb

hèir

1. Alternative spelling of hiir.

English

Noun

keir (plural keirs)

1. Alternative form of kier
   • 1902, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Sessional Papers, Volume 34, Part 2, page 7,

     The keirs, becks, washing machines, etc., are placed sufficiently low to allow of being fed from the water supply by gravitation, and the outlets placed just sufficiently high to reach the water line of the river a little above its normal flow.

   • 1919, Society of Dyers and Colourists, Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, Volume 35, page 35,

     Also fine clothes require longer treatment in the keir in order to secure good penetration by the chemie.

   • 1975, Owen Ashmore, The Industrial Archaeology of Stockport, page 31,

     The cloth was singed to remove superfluous fluff by being passed over heated copper plates and then boiled in bleaching keirs with lime or caustic soda.

Anagrams

• Erik, Keri, Kier, Rike, keri, kier, rike