heather
Syllables: heath·er/ˈhɛðə//ˈhɛðɚ/
heather noun: an evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
Noun
heather (countable and uncountable, plural heathers)
- An evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
- The cutting sides were gay with heather in bloom, and masses of dainty Scots bluebells, while patches of clear sky overhead were bringing life and colour to the sea.1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9
- Synonyms:
- ling
- A plant in the family Ericaceae.
- Various species of the genus Erica.
- Various species of the genus Cassiope.
- A purple colour with a tint of pink and blue.
- The use of interwoven yarns of mixed colours to produce flecks.
Adjective
heather (not comparable)
- Of a purple colour with a tint of pink and blue.
Proper noun capitalized: Heather
Heather (countable and uncountable, plural Heathers)
- A female given name from English.
- She struck his fancy - that pretty girl with the quaint name: sweet Heather Bell, as Mr. Travers always called her.
- "The name was a fancy of her godfather, an eccentric bachelor," the lady explained. " She was the youngest of three daughters, and the other two were called, respectively, 'Lily' and 'Rose'. 'Call this one Heather,' said Mr. Stewart, who loved Scotland and her purple mountains, 'she will grow up...1867, J.H.Riddell, Far Above Rubies, Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 50
- A surname from Middle English.
- A village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire district, Leicestershire, England (OS grid ref SK3910).
- An unincorporated community in Marion County, Missouri, United States.
heather meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
heather in Hindi
- हीदर, हीथर, हेदर
heather in Tamil
- நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும்
heather in Marathi
- हीदर, हेदर, हिथर
heather in Urdu
- ہیدر, ہیتھر
More languagesFewer languages
- heather in Bengali
- গুল্মবিশেষ
- heather in Telugu
- హీదర్, హీథర్
- heather in Malayalam
- തരിശുഭൂമികളിൽ വളരുന്ന ഒരിനം പാഴ്ചെടി
- heather in Kannada
- ಹೀದರ್, ಹೀಥರ್
- heather in Punjabi
- ਹੀਦਰ, ਹੀਥਰ, ਹਿੱਥਰ
- heather in Gujarati
- હીથર, હીદર, હીધર
- heather in Odia
- ହିଥର, ହିଥର୍, ହିଥାର
- heather in Nepali
- हेदर, हिथर, हीदर
- heather in Arabic
- خَلَنْج ḵalanj
- heather in Persian
- خلنگ xalang
Examples of heather in a sentence
- Heather and Scott also called the police to confirm their son was reported missing.
- The mountainy fields rose quietly outside it towards gorse and heather.
- The shirts were light blue heather ringers with royal blue trim on the necks and sleeves.
Synonyms of heather
Forms of heather
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | heathers |
| alternative form (dialectal) | hadder |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hether |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hather |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Heathers |
Origin of heather
From Middle English hather, hathir, from Old English *hǣddre and hǣþ (“heather”), cognate with Scots hedder, hadder, heddir (“heather”), Saterland Frisian Heede (“heather”), West Frisian heide (“heather”), Dutch heide (“heather”), German Low German Heide, Heid (“heather”), German Heide (“heather”).
From heather; the given name is one of the plant names taken up in the 19th century. The surname is habitational, also meaning someone living on a heath.
Words formed from heather
- American heather (Hudsonia tomentosa
- beach heather
- bell heather
- heather-bell
- common heather
- double heather
- false heather
- goldenheather
- golden heather
- green heather
- heather ale
- heather-bleat
- heather cock
- heathered
- heather grass
- heatherless
- heatherlike
- heather-mixture
- heather vole
- heathery
- mock heather
- moss heather
- mountain heather
- Scots heather
- set the heather alight
- set the heather on fire
- summer heather
- take to the heather
- tree heather
- white heather
- winter-flowering heather
- winter heather
Phrases with heather
Words that rhyme with heather
Questions about heather
- What does heather mean?
- Heather means an evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
- What is heather in Hindi?
- Heather in Hindi is हीदर, हीथर, हेदर. See Heather meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is heather?
- Heather can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce heather?
- Heather is pronounced /ˈhɛðə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of heather?
- The plural of heather is heathers.
Words near heather in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heather (page history and authors); Heather (page history and authors); heather (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heather (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heather (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heather (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heather (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-heather.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-heather.wav.
Cite this entry: “heather.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heather. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.