What does heirloom mean?
Word: Heirloom
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Heirloom means a treasured object that a family has kept and handed on through the generations.
Word origin: Made in English in the late Middle Ages from two older words; the second once meant any tool or household item.
How do you spell heirloom?
Syllables: heir - loom
Tricky part: It opens with an 'air' sound, which tempts students to write airloom or hairloom, and those who remember the silent letter often swap the next two and write hierloom.
Watch out for: airloom, hairloom, hierloom
Memory tip: Think of honour and hour: the h is written but never heard, and this word treats its h the same way.
Heirloom in a sentence
Example 1: This silver anklet is an heirloom from my great-grandmother's time.
Example 2: Aunt Leela's sewing machine is a family heirloom, and it still runs smoothly.
Example 3: The carved wooden chest is the oldest heirloom in our house.
Fun Fact
Gardeners use the word too: heirloom tomatoes and beans are old varieties grown from seed saved over many years.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Fusion
Choose the two parts that join to make the word that fits:
A ring passed from mother to daughter for a hundred years is one of these: 1. sky 2. heir 3. sun 4. loam 5. loom 6. lume
a) 1 and 5
b) 2 and 6
c) 2 and 4
d) 2 and 5
Show answer
d) 2 and 5. The second part is spelt like the weaving machine; loam is a kind of soil and lume is no word at all.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its meaning:
1. heirloom 2. souvenir 3. replica a. something you buy to remember a place b. an exact copy of a thing c. an old possession that stays in the same family
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
b) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
d) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
Show answer
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. A holiday memento is a souvenir, an exact copy is a replica, and an old possession that stays in the family is an heirloom.
Jumble Tumble
Choose the correct sequence of the jumbled letters to form a meaningful word:
lomierho 12345678
a) 75461283
b) 75426183
c) 85471263
d) 75462381
Show answer
a) 75461283. The silent h at 7 leads, with the e at 5 right behind it.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
The brass lantarn on Nani's shelf is a family heirloom, and she polishes it with tamerind paste every month.
a) 2
b) 1
c) 3
d) 0
Show answer
a) 2. Lantern needs er and tamarind needs an a in the middle, so two words are wrong.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these is most likely to become a family heirloom?
a) a bus ticket from last week
b) a grandfather's hand-carved clock
c) a plastic ruler bought today
d) a packet of paper plates
Show answer
b) a grandfather's hand-carved clock
2. Why do families usually take such care of an heirloom?
a) they carry memories of earlier generations
b) they must be returned to a shop one day
c) they earn interest at a bank each year
d) they are needed for cooking every day
Show answer
a) they carry memories of earlier generations
