heirloom
- 01 C1 Advanced
a type of vegetable or fruit that has been grown for many years from the same seeds, rather than a modern factory version.
a traditional variety of a plant or crop that is not used in modern large-scale agriculture and is often maintained by private gardeners.
Simple“She prefers growing heirloom tomatoes because they have much more flavour than the ones in the supermarket.”
In context“The community garden specialises in heirloom varieties of maize and squash that were originally cultivated by indigenous farmers in the region.”
UsageOften used as a noun adjunct before the name of a vegetable, such as 'heirloom carrots' or 'heirloom seeds'.
Synonymsheritage varietytraditional cultivarAntonymshybridmodern cultivar
“Although his goodbye letter wasn’t needed, it remained a family heirloom of sorts.”
Inherited from Middle English heirlome (“heirloom”, literally “a tool or article passed to one's heirs”). By surface analysis, heir + loom. Displaced native Old English fæderġestrēon.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.