1752: heirloom Oct 1, 2019

Given that 'heirloom' is simply a contraction of 'heir + loom' it would seem reasonable to assume that the notion of inheritance would have always been part of it, but that's not entirely true. Indeed, while today we would think of a loom as only a tool for weaving, in Old English 'gelōma' referred to any type of tool, and so did 'heirloom' for a while. Technically, it referred was an article passed down in someone's will, but records show that its usage was more general. However, since the 17th century 'heirloom' has had the meaning it carries today.

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