heart
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: agriculture
anatomy
biology
botany
business
card-games
cartomancy
chemistry
construction
games
human-sciences
lifestyle
manufacturing
masonry
medicine
mysticism
natural-sciences
philosophy
physical-sciences
sciences
Etymology: PIE word
 *ḱḗr
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd-
Proto-Indo-European *ḱérd
Proto-Germanic *hertô
Proto-West Germanic *hertā
Old English heorte
Middle English herte
English heart
From Middle English herte, from Old English heorte (“heart”), from Proto-West Germanic *hertā, from Proto-Germanic *hertô (“heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱérd (“heart”). Doublet of cardia; see also core.
Cognate with Dutch hart, German Herz, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hjerte, Norwegian Nynorsk hjarte, Swedish hjärta, Faroese and Icelandic hjarta.
Most of the modern figurative senses (such as passion or compassion, spirit, inmost feelings, especially love, affection, and courage) were present in Old English. However, the meaning “center” dates from the early 14th century. The verb sense “to love” is from the 1977 I ❤ NY advertising campaign.
Notes on spelling
The spelling ⟨ear⟩ for /ɑː(ɹ)/ is paralleled by hearken and hearth, but is problematic since an Early Modern variant with /ɛːr/ can be posited for those words, but not heart. Perhaps it represents Middle Scots hart /hɛːrt/ (reflecting the Scots lengthening of /a/ before /r/ then a consonant, then the early actuation of the Great Vowel Shift in Scots) or a parallel development in Northern England. Alternatively, a back-spelling by speakers of dialects where preconsonantal /ɛːr/ was shortened early, allowing it to undergo the late Middle English lowering to /ar/ (reflected in forms such as larn "learn") is possible.
Inflected forms:
form: hearts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hart
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: harte
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: hearte
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: hearts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: hearting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: hearted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: hearted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: hart
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: harte
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: hearte
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A muscular organ that pumps blood through the body, traditionally thought to be the seat of emotion.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: […] I did almoſt beleeve, that the motion of the Heart vvas knovvn to God alone: […]
gloss: One's feelings and emotions, especially considered as part of one's character.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: She has a cold heart.
In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
"Do what the heart commands," Tothero says. "The heart is our only guide."
gloss: The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, etc.; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; usually in a good sense; personality.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: a good, tender, loving, bad, hard, or selfish heart
Her heart was singing.
Upon his browes was pourtraid vgly death, / And in his eies the furies of his heart, / That ſhine as Comets, menacing reueng, / And caſts a pale complexion on his cheeks.
Calm and deep peace in this wide air,
⁠These leaves that redden to the fall;
⁠And in my heart, if calm at all,
If any calm, a calm despair: […]
gloss: Emotional strength that allows one to continue in difficult situations; courage; spirit; a will to compete.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The team lost, but they showed a lot of heart.
Eve, recovering heart, replied.
The expelled nations take heart, and when they fled from one country, invaded another.
"We provided a lot of brains and a lot of heart to the response when it was needed," says Sandra Sanchez, director of AFSC's Immigrants' Voice Program in Des Moines.
The result still leaves Wales bottom of the group but in better heart for Tuesday night's trip to face England at Wembley, who are now outright leaders after their 3-0 win in Bulgaria.
The heart from the home team was immense. Some of them were out on their feet before the end, but they dug in, throwing themselves in front of shots and crosses, surviving.
gloss: Vigorous and efficient activity; power of fertile production; condition of the soil, whether good or bad.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Both theſe unhappy Soils the Swain forbears, / And keeps a Sabbath of alternate Years: / That the ſpent Earth may gather heart again; / And, better'd by Ceſſation, bear the Grain.
gloss: A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: Listen, dear heart, we must go now.
My King, my Jove, I speak to thee, my heart!
Awake, dear heart, awake. Thou hast slept well./Awake.
Certain unscrupulous men may call upon you here in your dressing-room. They will lavish you with flowers, with compliments, with phials of Hungary water and methuselahs of the costliest champagne. You must be wary of such men, my hearts, they are not to be trusted.
gloss: Memory.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: I know almost every Beatles song by heart.
gloss: A wight or being.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: […] I would outstare the sternest eyes that look, / Outbrave the heart most daring on earth, / Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear, / Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey,[…]
gloss: A conventional shape or symbol used to represent the heart, love, or emotion: ♥.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: "Aw. Thank you." The Cherub kissed the air between them and sent a small cluster of tiny red hearts at her.
gloss: A playing card of the suit hearts featuring one or more heart-shaped symbols.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The twenty-fourth Lenormand card.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The centre, essence, or core.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: That is the heart of the matter
The wood at the heart of a tree is the oldest.
Buddhists believe that suffering is right at the heart of all life.
At last she spoke in a low voice, hesitating slightly, nevertheless going with incisive directness into the very heart of the problem.
The narrow streets that twist and turn through the compact heart of Dent are surfaced with cobbles which, in the absence of pavements, spread right across from doorstep to doorstep.
The heart of the modern city is T’ien-an-men Square, one of the largest — if not the largest — square in the world, created expressly in the Fifties on the ashes of the old “Tartar city,” an agglomeration of small and unassuming low grey houses, inhabited by the populace that was once excluded from the “Forbidden City.”
Arcelia Silva Martinez: Watch out!/Arcelia Silva Martinez: We've got geth in the tower./Fai Dan: Protect the heart of the colony!
Norwich's attack centred on a front pair of Steve Morison and Grant Holt, but Younes Kaboul at the heart of the Tottenham defence dominated in the air.
gloss: The centre, essence, or core.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
gloss: To be fond of. Often bracketed or abbreviated with a heart symbol.
pos: verb
tags: humorous
informal
transitive
examples: We're but the sum of all our terrors until we heart the dove.
2006, Susan Reinhardt, Bulldog doesn't have to rely on the kindness of strangers to draw attention, Citizen-Times.com
I guess at this point we were supposed to feel elated she'd come to her senses and decided she hearts dogs after all.
The further we delve into this "story", the more convinced we become of one thing: We heart the Goss.
2008 July 25, "The Media Hearts Obama?", On The Media, National Public Radio
Lots of people say they love their hometown, but no one hearts NY quite like Milton Glaser.
gloss: To mark a comment, post, reply, etc., with the heart symbol (❤).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She hearted my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
gloss: To give heart to; to hearten; to encourage.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: […]My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason.
gloss: To fill an interior with rubble, as a wall or a breakwater.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To form a dense cluster of leaves, a heart, especially of lettuce or cabbage.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Related words: <3
♥
❤
🫀
Derived words: absence makes the heart fonder
absence makes the heart go yonder
absence makes the heart grow fonder
after one's own heart
all heart
antiheart
artichoke heart
at heart
athlete's heart
athletic heart syndrome
bare one's heart
beating heart
beating-heart transplant
beauty heart radish
beefheart
beheart
be still my beating heart
be still my heart
big heart
blackheart
bleeding heart
bleeding-heart
bleeding-heart monkey
bless someone's heart
braveheart
break someone's heart
broken heart
broken-heart syndrome
broken heart syndrome
bullock's heart
by heart
carry one's heart on one's sleeve
carry one's heart upon one's sleeve
cattleheart
change of heart
chicken-heart
closet of the heart
close to one's heart
close to someone's heart
coconut heart
cold hands, warm heart
congenital heart defect
congenital heart disease
congestive heart failure
conversation heart
coronary heart disease
cross my heart
cross my heart and hope to die
cross one's heart
dear heart
dearheart
depraved-heart murder
disheart
dishearten
do someone's heart good
drive a stake through its heart
eat one's heart
eat one's heart out
eat someone's heart
enhearten
faint-heart
faint heart never won fair lady
faint of heart
falseheart
find it in one's heart
finger heart
floating heart
follow one's heart
for one's heart
the bottom of one's heart
the heart
frosted heart
gladden someone's heart
good-hearted
Green Heart
greenheart
halfhearted
hand heart
hand on heart
harden someone's heart
hard-hearted
hard of heart
have a heart
have Jesus in one's heart
have one's heart in
have one's heart in one's boots
have one's heart in the right place
have one's heart set on
have one's heart set upon
have the heart
heartache
heart-ache
heartake
heart and dart
heart and hand
heart and soul
heart as big as Phar Lap
heart attack
heart baby
heart balm
heart-balm
heartbeat
heart beat
heart block
heart-blood
heartbond
heart bond
heartbreak
heartbreaker
heart breaker
heartbreaking
heart-breaking
heart-breakingly
heart-breakingness
heartbroke
heartbroken
heartburn
heart-burn
heartburned
heartburning
heart cake
heart cam
heartcare
heart check
heart clover
heartcut
heartcutting
heartdeep
heart disease
hearten
heart eyes
heartface
heart failure
heart-failure
heart-felt
heartfelt
heart-free
heartful
heartgrief
heart-hand disease
heart-healthy
heartical
heartistic
heartland
heart-leaf
heartleaf
heart-leaved globe daisy
heart-leaved poison
heartless
heartlet
heartlike
heart line
heartline
heartling
heart-lung machine
heartly
heartman
heart massage
heartmate
heart murmur
heart muscle
heart neckline
heart note
heartnut
heart of glass
heart of gold
heart of grace
heart of hearts
heart of oak
heart of palm
heart of stone
heartpea
heart pine
heart-pounding
heart-poundingly
heartquake
heart rate
heart rate monitor
heart-rending
heartrending
heart-rendingly
heartrot
heart rot
heart sac
hearts and flowers
hearts and minds
hearts and rounds
heartscape
Heart's Delight
heart-searching
heartsearching
heartsease
heartseed
heart-service
heart-shaped
heart-shattering
heartsick
heart smart
heartsome
heartsong
hearts on sleeves
heartsore
heart sound
heart-spent
heartspent
heart-splitting
heart starter
heart-stirring
heartstopper
heart-stopper
heartstopping
heart-stopping
heart-stoppingly
heartstricken
heartstring
heartstrings
heart strings
heartstruck
heart surgeon
heart sweetbread
heartswelling
heartthrob
heart-throbbing
heart-thumping
heart to heart
heart-to-heart
heart-touchin'
heart-touching
heart-tugging
heart urchin
heart valve
heart-warmer
heartwarming
heart-warming
heartwater
heart wheel
heartwhole
heart-whole
heartwise
heartwood
heartworm
heartworthy
heartwrenching
heart-wrenching
heart-wrenchingly
hearty
heavy heart
hemp heart
holiday heart
holiday heart syndrome
home is where the heart is
inheart
irritable heart
lay to heart
lie at one's heart
lie at someone's heart
lionheart
Lionheart
lonely-heart
lonely-hearts
lose heart
lose one's heart
love heart
nonheart
off by heart
one's heart bleeds
one's heart in one's mouth
one's heart in one's throat
one's heart is not in it
one's heart out
one's heart sinks
open-hearted
open-heart surgery
open one's heart
out of heart
out of the goodness of one's heart
oxheart
palmheart
pour one's heart out
pour out one's heart
pseudoheart
pull at someone's heart strings
purple heart
purpleheart
Purple Heart
put one's heart in
put one's heart into
put one's heart on one's sleeve
put the heart across one
right-hearted
round heart disease
sea heart
set one's heart on
set one's heart upon
sick at heart
single-hearted
sinking heart
soldier's heart
someone's heart goes out
someone's heart is in
someone's heart out
steal someone's heart
strike at the heart of
sweetheart
take heart
take to heart
Texas heart shot
the heart wants what it wants
the heart wants what the heart wants
the way to a man's heart is through his stomach
tobacco heart
tug at someone's heart strings
two-heart
unheart
warm someone's heart
warm the cockles of someone's heart
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
wear one's heart upon one's sleeve
white-heart
wholehearted
win someone's heart
with all of one's heart
with all one's heart
xenoheart
yellowheart
young at heart
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: قَلْب
roman: qalb
lang: Arabic
word: جَوْهَر
roman: jawhar
lang: Armenian
word: սիրտ
roman: sirt
lang: Bulgarian
word: сърцевина́
roman: sǎrceviná
lang: Bulgarian
word: ядро́
roman: jadró
lang: Catalan
word: cor
lang: Catalan
word: si
lang: Chinese Cantonese
word: 中心
roman: zung¹ sam¹
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 中心
roman: zhōngxīn
lang: Czech
word: srdce
lang: Danish
word: hjerte
lang: Dutch
word: hart
lang: Esperanto
word: kerno
lang: Faroese
word: hjarta
lang: Finnish
word: sydän
lang: Finnish
word: ydin
lang: French
word: cœur
lang: West-Frisian
word: hert
lang: Georgian
word: გული
roman: guli
lang: German
word: Kern
lang: German
word: Herz
lang: Greek
word: καρδιά
roman: kardiá
lang: Ancient Greek
word: καρδία
roman: kardía
lang: Hebrew
word: מרכז
roman: merkáz
lang: Hebrew
word: לב
roman: lev
lang: Hindi
word: हृदय
roman: hŕday
lang: Hindi
word: क़ल्ब
roman: qalb
lang: Hindi
word: कल्ब
roman: kalb
lang: Hindi
word: मध्य
roman: madhya
lang: Hindi
word: दिल
roman: dil
lang: Hindi
word: जौहर
roman: jauhar
lang: Hindi
word: गूदा
roman: gūdā
lang: Hungarian
word: szív
lang: Icelandic
word: hjarta
lang: Indonesian
word: inti
lang: Indonesian
word: intisari
lang: Irish
word: croí
lang: Italian
word: nocciolo
lang: Japanese
word: 中心
roman: chūshin
lang: K'iche'
word: k’u’x
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: dil
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: qelb
lang: Macedonian
word: срцевина
roman: srcevina
lang: Maltese
word: qalba
lang: Maltese
word: ġewieni
lang: Māori
word: mano
lang: Māori
word: kahiwi
lang: Māori
word: oru
lang: Māori
word: tahiwi
lang: Māori
word: karihi
lang: Mizo
word: laimu
lang: Mòcheno
word: hèrz
lang: Norman
word: tchoeu
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: hjertet
lang: Iranian Persian
word: دِل
roman: del
lang: Polish
word: serce
lang: Portuguese
word: cerne
lang: Romanian
word: centru
lang: Romanian
word: mijloc
lang: Romanian
word: inimă
lang: Russian
word: се́рдце
roman: sérdce
lang: Russian
word: сердцеви́на
roman: serdcevína
lang: Russian
word: ядро́
roman: jadró
lang: Sanskrit
word: हृदय
roman: hṛdaya
lang: Sanskrit
word: अन्तर्भाग
roman: antarbhāga
lang: Sanskrit
word: मध्य
roman: madhya
lang: Scottish Gaelic
word: cridhe
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ср̏це
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: sȑce
lang: Spanish
word: corazón
lang: Swedish
word: hjärta
lang: Swedish
word: pudelns kärna
lang: Telugu
word: మధ్యభాగము
roman: madhyabhāgamu
lang: Thai
word: ใจกลาง
roman: jai-glaang
lang: Vietnamese
word: trung tâm
lang: Zazaki
word: zerre (diq)
lang: Zulu
word: umnyombo
lang: Zulu
word: inkaba