heir
noun · a person who will receive money, property or a title when someone dies
- AIRer (stressed)
- AIReə (stressed)
- US /er/AIR Recorded voice
- UK /eə/AIR Your device’s voice
How to pronounce heir
Heir is pronounced AIR, exactly like the word air. It is one syllable and the H is silent in both American and British English. That is why you say an heir, not a heir.
- 1 syllable
- Stress on AIR
- Sounds like air
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
Heir, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/er/
AIRstressed
- /e/as in bed
- /r/as in red
UK British English/eə/
AIRstressed
- /eə/as in hair (UK)
Say heir yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes heir, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Start with the vowel. The H is silent: heir sounds just like air.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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Common heir pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say AIR.
Not
HAIRSaying the H. That turns heir into hair. Start with the vowel: AIR.
Not
HY-erReading it like higher. The vowel is the one in air and their.
Not
EERReading ei as in receive, so it sounds like ear. Say AIR.
Heir in a sentence
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
The old king had no heir.
She is the only heir to her father's company.
He became an heir at 16.
Why is the h in heir silent?
Heir came into English from Norman French, where it could be written eir, with no H, from Latin heres. The French did not say the H, and English never started.
Words of this family keep the silent H: heiress and heirloom start with a vowel sound too. But in inherit, heredity and hereditary, the H is said.
Because heir starts with a vowel sound, use an: an heir, the same as an hour and an honest man.
Words that sound like heir
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
Say words like heir out loud with Slova
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