heath

English Online Dictionary. What means heath‎? What does heath mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English heeth, heth, hethe, from Old English hǣþ (“heath, untilled land, waste; heather”), from Proto-West Germanic *haiþi, from Proto-Germanic *haiþī (“heath, waste, untilled land”), from Proto-Indo-European *kayt- (“forest, wasteland, pasture”). Cognate with Dutch heide (“heath, moorland”), German Heide (“heath, moor”), Norwegian hei (“heath”), Swedish hed (“heath, moorland”), Old Welsh coit (“forest”), Welsh coed (“forest”), Latin būcētum (“pastureland”, literally “cow-pasture”) -cetum (“place of, grove of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːθ/
• Rhymes: -iːθ

Noun

heath (countable and uncountable, plural heaths)

1. A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.
2. Any small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae.
   1. in Erica spp.
   2. in Cassiope spp.
   3. in Daboecia spp.
   4. in Epacris spp. (Australian heath)
   5. in Leucopogon spp. (beard heath)
   6. in Phyllodoce spp. (mountain heath)
3. (countable) Any butterfly or moth of species:
   1. Coenonympha spp., a genus of brush-footed butterfly, of the palaearctic.
      1. Coenonympha pamphilus, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and Northern Africa, the small heath
      2. Coenonympha tullia, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and North America, the large heath
   2. Melitaea athalia (heath fritillary)
   3. Semiothisa clathrata (latticed heath)
   4. Ematurga atomaria (common heath)

Usage notes

• The word heaths may describe multiple disconnected heathlands.

Synonyms

• (shrub): heather

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• theah, hathe