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heart¹

  • /hɑːʔ/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /hɑːt/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /hɑːt/ UK
  • /hɑɹt/ US

Sounds like Hart, hart · Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)t

Where it comes from

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 harte, heorrte, hert, herte, hierte, hirte, horte, huerte, hurte, from Old English heorte (“heart”), from Proto-West Germanic *hertā, from Proto-Germanic *hertô (“heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr (“heart”), from *ḱerd- (“heart”). Doublet of cardia; see also core.

Cognates

Cognate with Scots hert (“heart”), Yola hart, hearth (“heart”), North Frisian hart, härt (“heart”), Saterland Frisian Haat (“heart”), West Frisian hert (“heart”), Dutch hart (“heart”), West Flemish erte (“heart”), Low German Hart, Hiärt (“heart”), Luxembourgish Häerz (“heart”), German Hertz, Herz, Herze (“heart”), Alemannic German Härz (“heart”), Central Franconian Hatz, Hätz (“heart”), Cimbrian hèertze, hèrtz (“heart”), Mòcheno hèrz (“heart”), Vilamovian haoc (“heart”), Yiddish האַרץ (harts), הערץ (herts, “heart”), Danish hierte, hjerte, hjærte (“heart”), Elfdalian järta (“heart”), Faroese and Icelandic hjarta (“heart”), Jutish jaart (“heart”), Norwegian Bokmål hjerte (“heart”), Norwegian Nynorsk hjarta, hjarte, hjerta, hjerte (“heart”), Swedish hjärta (“heart”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō, “heart”); also Cornish kres (“centre, middle; waist”), Irish croí, croidhe (“heart; core; hub; sweetheart”), Manx cree (“heart”), Scottish Gaelic cridhe (“heart; courage; core; nucleus; sweetheart”), Welsh craidd (“centre, core, middle”), Latin cor (“heart”), Greek καρδιά (kardiá, “heart”), Albanian kërth (“askew”), Latgalian sirds (“heart”), Latvian sirde, sirds (“heart”), Lithuanian širdis (“heart”), Old Prussian seyr (“heart”), Belarusian сэ́рца (sérca, “heart”), Bulgarian сърце́ (sărcé, “heart; centre”), Czech and Slovak srdce (“heart”), Macedonian срце (srce, “heart”), Polish serce (“heart”), Russian се́рдце (sérdce, “heart”), Serbo-Croatian ср̏це, sȑce (“heart”), Slovene srce (“heart”), Ukrainian се́рце (sérce, “heart”), Armenian սիրտ (sirt, “heart”), Avestan 𐬰𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬛 (zərəd, “heart”), Baluchi زرد (zird, “heart; conscience”), Central Kurdish زر (zir, “heart”), Persian دل (del / dil, “heart; stomach; mind; courage”), Gurani زێڵ (zēł, “heart”), Northern Kurdish dil (“heart”), Ossetian зӕрдӕ (zærdæ, “heart; soul”), Pashto زړه (zrë, “heart”), Talysh dıl (“heart”), Zazaki zerri (“heart”), Hittite 𒆠𒅕 (ker), 𒊮𒅕 (ŠÀ-er, “heart”), Luwian 𒍝𒀀𒅈𒍝 (UZUzārza), 𔖪𔖱𔖪 (zārza, “heart”), Ashkun židi (“heart”), Kamkata-viri j̈arë, zërë (“heart”), Prasuni zër (“heart”), Tocharian A kri (“will”), Tocharian B *käryā- (“heart”), Sanskrit हृद् (hṛd, “heart; soul; breast, chest”).

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.

noun hearts · hart · hearte

  1. countable, uncountable A muscular organ that pumps blood through the body, traditionally thought to be the seat of emotion. […] I did almoſt beleeve, that the motion of the Heart vvas knovvn to God alone: […]
  2. uncountable One's feelings and emotions, especially considered as part of one's character. She has a cold heart.
  3. countable, uncountable 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. a good, tender, loving, bad, hard, or selfish heart
  4. countable, uncountable Compassion. If she had any heart she'd forgive me.
  5. countable, uncountable Affection The chorus's singing won the hearts of the audience.
  6. countable, uncountable Disposition They didn't take the remarks in good heart.
  7. countable, uncountable Emotional strength that allows one to continue in difficult situations; courage; spirit; a will to compete. The team lost, but they showed a lot of heart.
  8. countable, uncountable Vigorous and efficient activity; power of fertile production; condition of the soil, whether good or bad. 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.
  9. archaic, countable, uncountable A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address. Listen, dear heart, we must go now.
  10. countable, obsolete, uncountable Memory. I know almost every Beatles song by heart.
  11. countable, figuratively, uncountable A wight or being. […] 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,[…]
  12. countable, uncountable A conventional shape or symbol used to represent the heart, love, or emotion: ♥. "Aw. Thank you." The Cherub kissed the air between them and sent a small cluster of tiny red hearts at her.
  13. countable, uncountable A playing card of the suit hearts featuring one or more heart-shaped symbols.
  14. countable, uncountable The twenty-fourth Lenormand card.
  15. countable, figuratively, uncountable The centre, essence, or core. That is the heart of the matter
  16. countable, figuratively, uncountable The main fraction or product of a distillation run.

verb hearts · hearting · hearted · hart · hearte

  1. humorous, informal, transitive To be fond of. Often bracketed or abbreviated with a heart symbol. We're but the sum of all our terrors until we heart the dove.
  2. transitive To mark a comment, post, reply, etc., with the heart symbol (❤). She hearted my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
  3. obsolete, transitive To give heart to; to hearten; to encourage. […]My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason.
  4. transitive To fill an interior with rubble, as a wall or a breakwater.
  5. intransitive To form a dense cluster of leaves, a heart, especially of lettuce or cabbage.

Heart²

Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)t

proper noun Hearts

  1. A surname.

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