Heath

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hiːθ/
• Rhymes: -iːθ

Origin

From Middle English heeth, hethe, heth, from Old English hǣþ ("heath, untilled land, waste; heather"), from Proto-Germanic *haiþī ("heath, waste, untilled land"), from Proto-Indo-European *kait-, *ḱait- ("forest, wasteland, pasture"). Cognate with Dutch heide ("heath, moorland"), German Heide ("heath, moor"), Swedish hed ("heath, moorland"), Old Welsh coit ("forest"), Latin bū-cētum ("pastureland", literally cow-pasture), Albanian kath ("type of wheat"), kasht ("straw").

Full definition of heath

Noun

1. Any small evergreen shrub of the genus Erica.
• 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 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.
2. A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.
• '~1602 William Shakespeare, Macbeth'', Act I, scene I:1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath/3. There to meet with Macbeth

Usage notes

The word heaths may describe multiple disconnected heathlands.

Synonyms

• heather

Anagrams

• hathe