heart

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the locus of feelings and intuitions
  2. noun the hollow muscular organ located behind the sternum and between the lungs; its rhythmic contractions move the blood through the body
  3. noun the courage to carry on

Etymology

PIE word *ḱḗr Etymology tree 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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

bosom

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