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Heir vs Assign - What's the difference?

heir | assign |

As nouns the difference between heir and assign

is that heir is someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another while assign is an assignee.

As a verb assign is

to designate or set apart something for some purpose.

heir

English

Noun

(en noun) (Inheritance)
  • Someone who inherits, or is designated to inherit, the property of another.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I am my father's heir and only son.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
    • , passage=And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir .}}
  • One who inherits, or has been designated to inherit, a hereditary title or office.
  • A successor in a role, representing continuity with the predecessor.
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:And I his heir in misery alone.
  • *
  • *:"I wish we were back in Tenth Street. But so many children came"
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-11, volume=407, issue=8835, page=12, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= What a waste , passage=India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs .}}

    Related terms

    * legatee * devisee * heirloom * heir apparent

    Anagrams

    * English words not following the I before E except after C rule ----

    assign

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To designate or set apart something for some purpose.
  • :
  • (lb) To appoint or select someone for some office.
  • :
  • (lb) To allot or give something as a task.
  • *(Robert Southey) (1774-1843)
  • *:The man who could feel thus was worthy of a better station than that in which his lot had been assigned .
  • * (1796-1859)
  • *:He assigned to his men their several posts.
  • *
  • *:Captain Edward Carlisle; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
  • (lb) To attribute or sort something into categories.
  • To transfer property, a legal right, etc., from one person to another.
  • To give (a value) to a variable.
  • :

    • Derived terms

    * assignment * assignable * assignation

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An assignee.
  • (obsolete) A thing relating or belonging to something else; an appurtenance.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Six French rapiers and poniards, with their assigns , as girdles, hangers, and so.
    English transitive verbs