家裡一代代傳下來的東西
這就是核心畫面本身：一件實物在家族裡往下傳。
noun · B2
An object that one family has owned for a long time and hands down from the older members to the younger ones, kept because it matters to them rather than because of its price.
傳家寶
核心畫面
You can picture one object being placed from an older hand into a younger hand, again and again, always inside the same family. Nothing is bought and nothing is sold. The thing simply keeps travelling downward, and what makes it precious is the line of people who held it before.
可以想成一件東西，從上一代的手放進下一代的手裡，一次又一次，而且一直待在同一個家裡。沒有買，也沒有賣，它就是一路往下…更多收起
可以想成一件東西，從上一代的手放進下一代的手裡，一次又一次，而且一直待在同一個家裡。沒有買，也沒有賣，它就是一路往下走。這個畫面裡最重的不是東西本身，是那一串接過它的人。所以 heirloom 講的其實是「傳」這個動作，不是「貴」這件事。From the word’s history
Middle English heirlome, from heir plus loom, where loom once meant a tool or implement: literally the tool that goes to your heirs. The modern word no longer needs to be a tool, but the handing-down is still inside it.
中古英語寫作 heirlome，由 heir（繼承人）加上 loom 組成，而 loom 在更早的英語裡指「工具、器具」。字面就是「留給繼承人的那件器具」。今天它可以是任何東西，但「傳下去」這件事還留在字裡。
Wiktionary entry for heirloom (local kaikki extract, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1168885805): Middle English heirlome, by surface analysis heir + loom.
Two branches
一代代留種的老品種
同一個畫面換了一種東西：往下傳的不是戒指，是種子。農夫每年從最好的那幾株留種，明年再種下去，一留就是幾十年甚至上百年。所以這個形容詞說的是「這株植物的血脈是傳下來的」，而不是「這株植物很老」。
adjective · C1
Used about a plant, vegetable, or seed of an old kind that gardeners and farmers have saved and grown for many years, and that is now rare instead of being one of the modern types grown on large farms.
老品種的