heirlooms
heirlooms — noun
1. valuable possessions, such as jewellery, watches, or furniture, that one generat
valuable possessions, such as jewellery, watches, or furniture, that one generation of a family passes on to the next over a long period of time.
Sari keeps her grandmother's pearl earrings and silver brooch as family heirlooms.
collocation: family heirlooms
The Watanabe family lost most of their heirlooms in the 1995 Kobe earthquake.
possessive + heirlooms in main clause
Christopher inherited two gold pocket watches and a violin as heirlooms from his great-uncle.
Many of the heirlooms on display were donated by old farming families in the village.
Dahlia carefully wrapped the porcelain teacups, the only heirlooms her mother had saved from the war.
文法句型
family heirloom
pass down heirlooms
用法筆記
Almost always plural in this sense. Frequently paired with 'family' as the modifier (a family heirloom / family heirlooms), and with verbs like 'pass down', 'inherit', 'keep'.
常見錯誤
2. fruits, vegetables, or seeds of an older traditional kind that small growers hav
fruits, vegetables, or seeds of an older traditional kind that small growers have kept alive across many generations, instead of the modern commercial types sold in supermarkets.
Gita grows tomato heirlooms from seeds her grandmother brought from the village near Pune.
noun-noun: tomato heirlooms
The Saturday market in Asheville sells heirlooms of squash, beans, and peppers grown by local farmers.
collocation: heirlooms of [crop]
Baraka and his neighbours started a small garden of African heirlooms — sorghum, okra, and bitter leaf.
Old apple heirlooms taste richer than supermarket varieties but bruise more easily during transport.
Élise saves seeds every autumn so her favourite pumpkin heirlooms survive another year on the farm.
- heritage varieties
near-equivalent; common in UK gardening contexts
- traditional cultivars
technical; used in horticulture and seed-saving literature
- hybrids
modern crosses bred for yield, uniformity, and shipping; the usual contrast
文法句型
grow heirlooms
heirlooms from + source
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense never refers to family possessions; it is about plant or seed varieties. Almost always plural and modified by the crop name ('tomato heirlooms', 'apple heirlooms') or by an adjective of origin ('African heirlooms').
常見錯誤
heirlooms — adjective
1. describing a traditional variety of fruit, vegetable, or seed that small growers
describing a traditional variety of fruit, vegetable, or seed that small growers have kept alive across many generations, in contrast with modern commercial varieties bred for supermarkets.
Zayd planted six heirloom tomato seeds in the small greenhouse behind the school.
attributive: heirloom + tomato
The chef in Lyon prefers heirloom carrots because they have a sweeter, earthier flavour than supermarket ones.
contrast with modern varieties
Tamar runs a seed bank in northern Israel that protects heirloom wheat strains from disappearing.
Old farmers in the Andes still plant heirloom potatoes in dozens of colours and shapes.
Constanza's market stall sells heirloom apples, pears, and quinces from her family orchard.
- heritage
very close equivalent; 'heritage wheat', 'heritage breeds'; slightly more common in UK English
- traditional
broader; covers methods and recipes, not only plant varieties
- hybrid
modern bred variety; the standard contrast in horticulture
- commercial
grown at scale for supermarkets; the everyday contrast
文法句型
heirloom + noun (tomato / seed / apple)
用法筆記
Attributive only — comes before a noun and cannot stand alone after 'be' ('the tomato is heirloom' is not used). Restricted to crops, plants, and seeds; not used of jewellery or furniture even though the noun sense 1 covers those.