successor

English

Alternative forms

• successour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman successour, from Latin successor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səkˈsɛsə/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /səkˈsɛsɚ/, IPA^(key): /səˈsɛsɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

successor (plural successors)

1. A person or thing that immediately follows another in holding an office or title.

   George W. Bush was successor to Bill Clinton as President of the US.

   • 2003, Tu Cheng-sheng, translated by Paul Cooper, Ilha Formosa: the Emergence of Taiwan on the World Scene in the 17th Century‎^[1], →OCLC, →OL, page 27:

     After Li Tan's death in 1625, Hsu Hsin-su (許心素), leader of the Chang-chou people dwelling in and around the city of Hsia-men (廈門, or Amoy), emerged as his successor.

   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.

2. The next heir in order or succession.
3. A person who inherits a title or office.
4. (arithmetic, set theory) The integer, ordinal number or cardinal number immediately following another.

   A limit ordinal is not the successor of any ordinal.

Synonyms

• (person or thing that immediately follows another): aftercomer (uncommon); see also Thesaurus:successor

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “person or thing that immediately follows another”): predecessor; see also Thesaurus:predecessor

Derived terms

• successor ideology

Translations

person or thing that immediately follows another

• Arabic: خَلِيف m (ḵalīf)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: xələf (az)
• Belarusian: насту́пнiк m (nastúpnik), насту́пнiца f (nastúpnica), засту́пнiк m (zastúpnik), засту́пнiца f (zastúpnica), перае́мнік m (pjerajémnik), перае́мніца f (pjerajémnica), спадкае́мец m (spadkajémjec), спадкае́мка f (spadkajémka)
• Bulgarian: прие́мник (bg) m (priémnik), прие́мничка f (priémnička)
• Catalan: successor (ca), successora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繼任者／继任者 (zh) (jìrènzhě)

• Czech: následník (cs) m, následnice f, nástupce (cs) m, nástupkyně f
• Danish: efterfølger (da) c
• Dutch: opvolger (nl) m, opvolgster (nl) f
• Esperanto: posteulo (eo), sekvanto
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)
• French: successeur (fr) m, successeuse (fr) f, successrice (fr) f
• Georgian: შემცვლელი (šemcvleli), შემდეგი (šemdegi), მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Nachfolger (de) m, Nachfolgerin (de) f
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) m or f (diádochos)

  Ancient: διάδοχος m or f (diádokhos)

• Hindi: उत्तराधिकारी (hi) (uttarādhikārī)
• Indonesian: penerus (id)
• Italian: successore (it) m, succeditrice f (rare), successora f
• Japanese: 後任 (ja) (こうにん, kōnin), 後継者 (ja) (こうけいしゃ, kōkeisha), 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Kazakh: ізбасар (ızbasar)
• Korean: 후임자(後任者) (ko) (hu'imja), 계승자(繼承者) (gyeseungja)
• Latin: successor m
• Ligurian: sucesô
• Maori: whakakapi, piki tūranga, kairīwhi
• Norn: efterman
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: etterkommer (no) m, etterfølger (no) m, oppfølger m

  Nynorsk: etterkomar m, etterkommar m, etterfylgjar m, etterfølgar m, etterfølgjar m, oppfylgjar m, oppfølgar m, oppfølgjar m, ettermann m

• Old English: æfterfylgend m, æftergenga m
• Polish: następca (pl) m, następczyni (pl) f, sukcesor (pl) m, sukcesorka f
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m, sucessora f
• Romanian: succesor (ro) m, succesoare (ro) f
• Russian: прее́мник (ru) m (prejémnik), прее́мница (ru) f (prejémnica)
• Slovak: následník m, následníčka f, nástupca m, nástupkyňa f
• Slovene: naslednik m, naslednica f
• Spanish: sucesor (es), sucesora f, postremo m
• Turkish: halef (tr), ardıl (tr)
• Ukrainian: спадкоє́мець m (spadkojémecʹ), спадкоє́миця f (spadkojémycja), насту́пник m (nastúpnyk), насту́пниця f (nastúpnycja)

next heir in order or succession

• Arabic: وَارِث m (wāriṯ), وَارِثَة f (wāriṯa)
• Azerbaijani: varis (az)
• Belarusian: насле́днік m (nasljédnik), насле́дніца f (nasljédnica)
• Bulgarian: насле́дник (bg) m (naslédnik), насле́дничка f (naslédnička)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 繼承人／继承人 (zh) (jìchéngrén)

• Czech: dědic (cs) m, dědička (cs) f
• Danish: efterfølger (da) c
• Esperanto: heredonto
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), manttelinperijä (fi), kruununperijä (fi)
• French: successeur (fr) m, successeuse (fr) f, successrice (fr) f
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Nachfolger (de) m, Nachfolgerin (de) f, Erbe (de) m, Erbin (de) f
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) m or f (diádochos)

  Ancient: διάδοχος m or f (diádokhos)

• Hindi: वारिस (hi) m (vāris), उत्तराधिकारी (hi) (uttarādhikārī)
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Italian: erede (it) m or f
• Japanese: 相続人 (ja) (そうぞくじん, sōzokujin)
• Korean: 상속인(相續人) (sangsogin)
• Latin: successor m
• Macedonian: наследник m (naslednik), наследничка f (naslednička)
• Maori: piki tūranga, piki tūranga
• Persian: وارث (fa) (vâres)
• Polish: następca (pl) m, następczyni (pl) f, spadkobierca (pl) m, spadkobierczyni (pl) f, dziedzic (pl) m, dziedziczka (pl) f, sukcesor (pl) m, sukcesorka f
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m, sucessora f
• Russian: насле́дник (ru) m (naslédnik), насле́дница (ru) f (naslédnica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на́следнӣк m, на́сљеднӣк m, на́следница f, на́сљедница f

  Roman: následnīk (sh) m, násljednīk (sh) m, následnica f, násljednica (sh) f

• Slovak: dedič m, dedička f
• Slovene: naslednik m, naslednica f
• Tajik: ворис (voris)
• Turkish: varis (tr)
• Ukrainian: наслі́дник m (naslídnyk), наслі́дниця f (naslídnycja), спадкоє́мець m (spadkojémecʹ), спадкоє́миця f (spadkojémycja)
• Urdu: وارث m (vāris)
• Uzbek: voris (uz)

person who inherits a title or office

• Azerbaijani: varis (az)
• Esperanto: posteulo (eo)
• Finnish: seuraaja (fi), vallanperijä
• Georgian: მემკვიდრე (memḳvidre)
• German: Nachfolger (de) m, Nachfolgerin (de) f
• Greek: διάδοχος (el) m or f (diádochos)
• Hindi: उत्तराधिकारी (hi) m (uttarādhikārī)
• Indonesian: pewaris (id)
• Italian: successore (it) m, succeditrice f
• Japanese: 後任 (ja) (こうにん, kōnin), 後継者 (ja) (こうけいしゃ, kōkeisha), 継承者 (ja) (けいしょうしゃ, keishōsha)
• Kazakh: ізбасар (ızbasar)
• Korean: 후임(後任) (ko) (hu'im), 후계자(後繼者) (ko) (hugyeja), 계승자(繼承者) (gyeseungja)
• Latin: successor m
• Maori: piki tūranga, whākapi
• Occitan: successor (oc) m
• Polish: następca (pl) m
• Portuguese: sucessor (pt) m, sucessora f
• Romanian: moștenitor (ro) m
• Russian: насле́дник (ru) m (naslédnik), насле́дница (ru) f (naslédnica), правопрее́мник (ru) m (pravoprejémnik), правопрее́мница (ru) f (pravoprejémnica)

integer or cardinal immediately following another

• Finnish: seuraaja (fi)
• Hindi: परवर्ती (hi) (parvartī), उत्‍तरवर्ती (ut‍tarvartī)
• Icelandic: eftirfari m
• Italian: successore (it) m
• Polish: następnik m

See also

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

• successor
• addition, summation:

  (augend) + (addend) = (total)

  (summand) + (summand) + (summand)... = (sum)

• subtraction:

  (minuend) − (subtrahend) = (difference)

• multiplication, factorization:

  (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (product)

  (factor) × (factor) × (factor)... = (product)

• division:

  (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient)

  (numerator) / (denominator) = (quotient)

  Or sometimes = (quotient) with (remainder) remaining

• exponentiation:

  (base) ^(exponent) = (power)

• root extraction:

  ^(degree) √ (radicand) = (root)

• logarithmization:

  log_(base) (antilogarithm) = (logarithm)

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin successōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [suk.səˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [suk.seˈsoɾ]

Adjective

successor (feminine successora, masculine plural successors, feminine plural successores)

1. (law) succeeding, following

Noun

successor m (plural successors, feminine successora)

1. successor

Related terms

• succeir

Further reading

• “successor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “successor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “successor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “successor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Etymology

From succēdō +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sukˈkes.sor/, [s̠ʊkˈkɛs̠ːɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sutˈt͡ʃes.sor/, [sutˈt͡ʃɛsːor]

Noun

successor m (genitive successōris, feminine succestrīx); third declension

1. follower, successor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	successor	successōrēs
genitive	successōris	successōrum
dative	successōrī	successōribus
accusative	successōrem	successōrēs
ablative	successōre	successōribus
vocative	successor	successōrēs

Descendants

• → Catalan: successor
• → English: successor
• → French: successeur
• → Galician: sucesor
• → Italian: successore
• → Occitan: successor
• → Portuguese: sucessor
• → Spanish: sucesor

References

• “successor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “successor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• successor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin successor.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

successor m (plural successors)

1. successor

Related terms

• succedir
• successiu