Word.ws English Dictionary

heart

/hɑːt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/hɑːʔ/

heart noun: a muscular organ that pumps blood through the body, traditionally thought to be the seat of emotion.

Noun

heart (countable and uncountable, plural hearts)

  1. 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: […]1653, William Harvey, “The Causes which Mov’d the Author to Write”, in [anonymous], transl., The Anatomical Exercises of Dr. William Harvey […] Concerning the Motion of the Heart and Blood. […]...
  2. (uncountable) One's feelings and emotions, especially considered as part of one's character.
    • 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.1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page 266
  3. 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
    • Her heart was singing.
  4. Compassion.
    • If she had any heart she'd forgive me.
  5. Affection
    • The chorus's singing won the hearts of the audience.
    • 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.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  6. Disposition
    • They didn't take the remarks in good heart.
  7. 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.
    • She put her whole heart into making a go of the business.
  8. 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.1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 52, lines...
  9. (archaic) A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address.
    • Listen, dear heart, we must go now.
    • My King, my Jove, I speak to thee, my heart!c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  10. (obsolete, except in the phrase "by heart") Memory.
    • I know almost every Beatles song by heart.
  11. (figuratively) 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,[…]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  12. 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.1998, Pat Cadigan, Tea From an Empty Cup, page 106
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A playing card of the suit hearts featuring one or more heart-shaped symbols.
  2. The twenty-fourth Lenormand card.
  3. (figuratively) The centre, essence, or core.
    • That is the heart of the matter
    • The wood at the heart of a tree is the oldest.
    Synonyms:
    crux, gist, bowels, sum, brass tacks, core, essence, drift, guts, gravamen
    1. (figuratively) The main fraction or product of a distillation run.

Verb

heart (third-person singular simple present hearts, present participle hearting, simple past and past participle hearted)

  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.2001 April 6, Michael Baldwin, “The Heart Has Its Reasons”, in Commonweal
    • I guess at this point we were supposed to feel elated she'd come to her senses and decided she hearts dogs after all.2006, Susan Reinhardt, Bulldog doesn't have to rely on the kindness of strangers to draw attention, Citizen-Times.com
  2. (transitive) To mark a comment, post, reply, etc., with the heart symbol (❤).
    • She hearted my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.
    Synonyms:
    love
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To give heart to; to hearten; to encourage.
    • […]My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  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.

Proper noun capitalized: Heart

Heart (plural Hearts)

  1. A surname.

heart meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

heart in Hindi

emotions or kindness
दिल dil, मन man, क़ल्ब qalb, कलेजा kalejā, हिया hiyā, अंतर antar
centre or core
हृदय hŕday, क़ल्ब qalb, कल्ब kalb, मध्य madhya, दिल dil, जौहर jauhar
an organ
दिल dil, हृदय hŕday, हिया hiyā, कलेजा kalejā, जिगर jigar, क़ल्ब qalb
seat of affections, understanding or will
हृदय hŕday, क़ल्ब qalb, कल्ब kalb, हृद् hŕd, गूदा gūdā

heart in Tamil

emotions or kindness
மனசு maṉacu, உள்ளம் uḷḷam
an organ
இதயம் itayam, குண்டி kuṇṭi
seat of affections, understanding or will
நெஞ்சு neñcu, நெஞ்சம் neñcam
a suit of cards
ஆர்ட்டின் ārṭṭiṉ

heart in Marathi

an organ
ह्रुदय hruday

heart in Urdu

emotions or kindness
دِل dil, مَن man, قَلْب qalb
an organ
دِل dil, قَلْب qalb, ہْرِدَی hridaī
More languagesFewer languages
heart in Bengali
হৃদয় hridoẏ, হৃৎপিন্ড hritpinḍ, হার্ট harṭo
heart in Telugu
మనసు manasu, హృదయం hr̥dayaṁ, మధ్యభాగము madhyabhāgamu, గుండె guṇḍe
heart in Malayalam
ഹൃദയം hr̥dayaṁ
heart in Kannada
ಹೃದಯ hṛdaya
heart in Punjabi
ਦਿਲ dil, ਜਿਗਰਾ jigrā, ਹਿਰਦਾ hirdā
heart in Gujarati
દિલ dil, હૃદય hŕdya, હૈયું haiyũ
heart in Odia
ହୃତ୍ପିଣ୍ଡ hrutpiṇḍa
heart in Sanskrit
हृदय hṛdaya, अन्तर्भाग antarbhāga, मध्य madhya, हृद् hṛd
heart in Sinhala
හදවත hadawata
heart in Assamese
হিয়া hia, আমঠু amothu, অন্তৰ ontor, হৃদয় hridoy
heart in Nepali
मुटु muṭu, हृदय hr̥daya
heart in Pashto
زړه zrë, قلب qalb
heart in Tagalog
puso
heart in Arabic
قَلْب qalb, جَوْهَر jawhar, فُؤَاد fuʔād, قلب arz
heart in Malay
hati, kalbu, sanubari, jantung
heart in Indonesian
kalbu, sanubari, hati, inti
heart in Persian
مِهْر mehr, مِهْرَبانی mehrabâni, دِل del, قَلْب qalb
heart in Thai
หัวใจ hǔua-jai, ดวงใจ duuang-jai, ฤทัย rʉ́-tai, ใจ jai
heart in Vietnamese
lòng, trung tâm, tim, hình trái tim
heart in Myanmar
အသည်းနှလုံး a.sany:hna.lum:, နှလုံး hna.lum:, ပိမ့် pim.
Sindhi
دِلِ dili
Dhivehi
ހިތް hit̊

Examples of heart in a sentence

  • Buddhists believe that suffering is right at the heart of all life.
  • 2008 July 25, "The Media Hearts Obama?", On The Media, National Public Radio
  • It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.1943, Katherine Woods, transl., The Little Prince, translation of original by Antoine de Saint Exupéry:
  • "Do what the heart commands," Tothero says.1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 47:
  • The expelled nations take heart, and when they fled from one country, invaded another.c. 1679, William Temple, Essay:
  • "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.2008, "Rights trampled in rush to deport immigrant workers," Quaker Action (magazine), vol. 89, no. 3, page 8

All 40 example sentences with heart

Synonyms of heart

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of heart

Forms of heart

Noun
pluralhearts
alternative form (obsolete)hart
alternative form (obsolete)hearte
Verb
third-person singular presenthearts
present participlehearting
past participlehearted
pasthearted
Proper noun
pluralHearts

Past tense of heart: hearted

Plural of heart: hearts

Origin of heart

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...

Words formed from heart

Phrases with heart

164 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with heart

32 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about heart

What does heart mean?
Heart means a muscular organ that pumps blood through the body, traditionally thought to be the seat of emotion.
What is heart in Hindi?
Heart in Hindi is दिल (dil), मन (man), क़ल्ब (qalb). See Heart meaning in Hindi.
How do you use heart in a sentence?
Buddhists believe that suffering is right at the heart of all life.
What part of speech is heart?
Heart can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce heart?
Heart is pronounced /hɑːʔ/ (British).
What is the plural of heart?
The plural of heart is hearts.

Words near heart in the dictionary

  1. Hearstian
  2. Hearstling
  3. Hearstlings
  4. hearsts
  5. hearsy
  6. heart
  7. heart and dart
  8. heart and hand
  9. heart and soul
  10. heart as big as Phar Lap
  11. heart attack

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heart (page history and authors); Heart (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-heart.ogg, En-us-heart.ogg.

Cite this entry: “heart.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heart. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.