heir apparent

English

WOTD – 16 April 2012

Etymology

From Middle English heier apparaunt, a calque translation of Middle French héritier apparent, hence the unusual order of adjective following noun.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

heir apparent (plural heirs apparent or heir apparents)

1. (usually monarchy) Someone who will definitely inherit if surviving the one whose property is to be inherited.

   Coordinate term: heiress apparent

   • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XVII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 345:

     […] for Mary, though perfectly resolved against ever attaching herself to a younger brother again, was long in finding among the dashing representatives, or idle heir apparents, who were at the command of her beauty, and her 20,000l. any one who could satisfy the better taste she had acquired at Mansfield, whose character and manners could authorise a hope of the domestic happiness she had there learnt to estimate, or put Edmund Bertram sufficiently out of her head.

   • 2021 July 14, A. A. Dowd, “Space Jam: A New Legacy is one big, witless commercial for Warner Bros. properties”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1]:

     LeBron James, heir apparent to MJ’s throne, seems on paper like a dream trade—he stole plenty of laughs in Trainwreck a few summers ago.

Antonyms

• heir presumptive

Translations

someone who will definitely inherit

• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 準繼承人／准继承人, 法定繼承人／法定继承人, 當然繼承人／当然继承人

• Czech: následník trůnu m
• Dutch: troonopvolger (nl) m, kroonprins (nl) m, kroonprinses (nl) f
• Finnish: kruununperijä (fi), kruununperillinen (fi)
• French: héritier apparent (fr) m, héritière apparente f
• German: Thronanwärter (de) m
• Greek: φυσικός κληρονόμος m or f (fysikós klironómos)
• Icelandic: ríkiserfingi m, óumdeildur arftaki
• Indonesian: pewaris takhta
• Irish: léiroidhre m
• Italian: erede apparente m or f
• Kazakh: тақ мұрагері (taq mūragerı)
• Korean: 법정추정상속인 (beopjeongchujeongsangsogin)
• Macedonian: престолонаследник m (prestolonaslednik)
• Malay: pewaris takhta, waris ganti
• Maori: piki tūranga
• Phoenician: 𐤁𐤍 𐤑𐤃𐤒 m (bn ṣdq), 𐤑𐤌𐤇 𐤑𐤃𐤒 m (ṣmḥ ṣdq)
• Polish: następca tronu m, następczyni tronu f
• Portuguese: herdeiro aparente m
• Russian: кронпринц (ru) m (kronprinc), престолонасле́дник (ru) m (prestolonaslédnik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пријестолона́сљеднӣк m, престолона́сљеднӣк m, престолона́следнӣк m

  Roman: prijestolonásljednīk (sh) m, prestolonásljednīk (sh) m, prestolonáslednīk m

• Slovene: prestolonaslednik (sl) m
• Spanish: heredero forzoso m, heredera forzosa f, heredero natural m, heredero aparente m
• Swedish: tronarvinge (sv) c
• Telugu: కుమారస్వామి (te) (kumārasvāmi)
• Thai: ทายาทผู้มีสิทธิโดยตรง (taa-yâat pôo mee sìt-tí doi dtrong)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: etifedd eglur m