heirloom

English

WOTD – 12 July 2009

Alternative forms

• heir-loom

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English heirlome (“heirloom”, literally “a tool or article passed to one's heirs”), equivalent to heir +‎ loom.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛə.luːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛəɹ.lum/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

heirloom (plural heirlooms)

1. A valued possession that has been passed down through the generations.

   Synonym: patrimony

2. (horticulture) An old crop variety that has been passed down through generations of farmers by seed saving and cultivation, in contrast to modern cultivars used in large-scale agriculture.
   • 2009 August 19, Melissa Clark, “Plums Rescue a Seasonal Favorite”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     My last trip to the market barely yielded enough unmealy heirlooms for a couple of salads.

   • 2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎^[2]:

     At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.

   • 2017 January 26, Nick Visser, “Scientists Say Something Is Very Wrong With The Tomato”, in HuffPost‎^[3]:

     In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, a team of researchers say they analyzed the genetic code of nearly 400 varieties of tomatoes ― from the common red supermarket types to the funky heirlooms found in farmers markets.

Translations

valued possession passed down through the generations

• Bashkir: мираҫ (miraś)
• Catalan: patrimoni (ca) m
• Danish: arvestykke n
• Dutch: erfstuk (nl) n
• Esperanto: heredaĵo
• Finnish: perintökalleus (fi) n
• French: patrimoine (fr) m
• Galician: herdanza (gl) f
• German: Erbstück (de) n
• Greek: κειμήλιο (el) n (keimílio)

  Ancient: κειμήλιον n (keimḗlion)

• Irish: séad fine m, seoid fine f, airnéis oidhreach f
• Italian: patrimonio (it) m, retaggio (it) m, lascito (it) m, bagaglio (it) m
• Japanese: 家宝 (ja) (かほう, kahou)
• Korean: 가보 (ko) (gabo)
• Maori: taonga tuku iho
• Norwegian: arvestykke n
• Old English: lāf f
• Old Norse: leif f
• Plautdietsch: Oawstekj n
• Polish: dziedzictwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: herança (pt) f
• Russian: семе́йная рели́квия f (seméjnaja relíkvija)
• Spanish: patrimonio (es) m
• Swedish: släktklenod (sv) c
• Tagalog: muyas
• Turkish: yadigâr (tr)

crop variety that has been passed down through generations

• Finnish: perinnelajike n
• German: alte Sorte f

See also

• (agriculture): heritage, landrace

Further reading

• heirloom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• holorime