Meanings
plural heirlings
- diminutiveDiminutive of heir.
Fanis slew his own sister for possession of the Shunstone, remember? I warrant his heirlings will be as jealous of the Stone as their ancestor was.
1984, Carole Nelson Douglas, chapter 24, in Exiles of the Rynth, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey, →ISBN, page 2462 more examples
Even so, the rule of the Frankish kings was not all catastrophe. Despite the blood-feuds of princes and heirlings, relative stability held good for most of the period, largely because the German border was quieter than it had been for centuries.
2006, Andrew Hussey, “Sea Gods”, in Paris: The Secret History, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury USA, published 2007, →ISBN, part one (The Old Ocean, Prehistory to ad 987), page 29William was an artist but all he did was shoot heroin and smoke crack and sell it to the fallen sons and daughters of the aristocracy, the damaged little heirlings who break apart to punish mummy and daddy, […]
2013, Chris Wilson, Horse Latitudes, [London?]: Sorika, →ISBN, page 110
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
heirling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heirling
“heirling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heirling. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heirling,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heirling.
Source: heirling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.