# heath
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English heeth, heth, hethe, from Old English hǣþ (“heath, untilled land, waste; heather”), from Proto-West Germanic *haiþi, from Proto-Germanic *haiþī (“heath, waste, untilled land”), from Proto-Indo-European *kayt- (“forest, wasteland, pasture”).
Cognate with Dutch heide (“heath, moorland”), German Heide (“heath, moor”), Norwegian hei (“heath”), Swedish hed (“heath, moorland”), Old Welsh coit (“forest”), Welsh coed (“forest”), Latin būcētum (“pastureland”, literally “cow-pasture”) -cetum (“place of, grove of”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio (UK):(file)
* IPA: /hiːθ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːθ

### Noun

heath (countable and uncountable, plural heaths)
* A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.
** c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath/3. There to meet with Macbeth
* Any small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae.
** 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 258:There was nobody living in Jim's old house, and some of the windows was broken; but there was heath growing back and front.
** in Erica spp.
** in Cassiope spp.
** in Daboecia spp.
** in Epacris spp. (Australian heath)
** in Leucopogon spp. (beard heath)
** in Phyllodoce spp. (mountain heath)
* (countable) Any butterfly or moth of species:
** Coenonympha spp., a genus of brush-footed butterfly, of the palaearctic.
*** Coenonympha pamphilus, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and Northern Africa, the small heath
*** Coenonympha tullia, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and North America, the large heath
** Melitaea athalia (heath fritillary)
** Semiothisa clathrata (latticed heath)
** Ematurga atomaria (common heath)

#### Usage notes

* The word heaths may describe multiple disconnected heathlands.

#### Synonyms

* (shrub): heather

#### Derived terms
##### Nouns

* alkali heath (Frankenia grandifolia)
* Balkan heath
* black heath (Erica cinerea)
* blunt-leaf heath (Epacris obtusifolia)
* bolster heath
* chalk heath
* common heath (Epacris obtusifolia, Epacris impressa)
* coral heath
* cranberry heath (Astroloma humifusum, Styphelia humifusum)
* cross-leaved heath, cross-leaf heath (Erica tetralix)
* cushion heath
* dune heath
* fine-leaved heath (Erica cinerea)
* French heath
* fringed heath (Erica ciliaris)
* grass heath
* heath aster (Symphyotrichum spp.)
* heath bell (Erica spp.)
* heath-blue (Neolucia spp.)
* heathclad
* heath cock, heath hen (Lyrurus tetrix)
* heath cypress (Diphasiastrum alpinum, syn. Lycopodium alpinum)
* heath fritillary (Melitaea athalia)
* heath grass (Danthonia decumbens)
* heathland
* heath pea (Lathyrus linifolius)
* heath rush (Juncus squarrosus)
* heath speedwell (Veronica officinalis)
* heath spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata)
* heath throstle
* heath violet (Viola canina)
* heath woodrush (Luzula multiflora)
* heathwort
* heath-wren
* heath wren, heathwren (Hylacola spp.))
* Irish heath (Daboecia cantabrica)
* large heath (Coenonympha tullia)
* latticed heath (Chiasmia clathrata)
* mountain heath (Phyllodoce caerulea)
* prickly heath
* red heath (Erica abietina, Calluna vulgaris, etc.)
* Scotch heath (Erica cinerea, Calluna vulgaris)
* sea-heath
* sea heath (Frankenia laevis)
* small heath Coenonympha pamphilus)
* spike heath
* spring heath (Erica carnea)
* tree heath (Erica arborea)
* true heath (Erica spp.)
* twisted heath (Erica cinerea)
* winter heath (Erica carnea)

##### Proper nouns

* Ashley Heath
* Balsall Heath
* Bentley Heath
* Brindle Heath
* Bromley Heath
* Burgh Heath
* Bushey Heath
* Chadwell Heath
* Charing Heath
* Cheadle Heath
* Coalpit Heath
* Copt Heath
* Cradley Heath
* Dickens Heath
* Donington le Heath
* Fernhill Heath
* Flackwell Heath
* Forest Heath
* Gillow Heath
* Gnosall Heath
* Hampstead Heath
* Haywards Heath
* Heath Charnock
* Heath End
* Heathfield
* Heathrow
* Heath Town
* Hoath
* Holton Heath
* Hopton Heath
* Hothfield
* Hounslow Heath
* Kings Heath
* Lenham Heath
* Locks Heath
* Newton Heath
* No Man's Heath
* Parson's Heath
* Short Heath
* Small Heath (toponym)
* South Heath
* Squirrels Heath
* St Giles on the Heath
* Stockton Heath
* Surrey Heath
* Thornton Heath
* Washwood Heath
* Whitacre Heath
* Whitmore Heath

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* theah, hathe