heather

See also: Heather

English

heather (Calluna vulgaris)

Alternative forms

hadder (dialectal)
hether, hather (obsolete)

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛðɚ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛðə/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈhiːðəɹ/[1]
Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)
Hyphenation: heath‧er

Noun

heather (countable and uncountable, plural heathers)

An evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
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.
heather:
(textiles) The use of interwoven yarns of mixed colours to produce flecks.

Synonyms

(Calluna vulgaris): ling

Derived terms

Terms derived from heather (noun)

American heather (Hudsonia tomentosa
beach heather (Hudsonia spp.)
bell heather, heather-bell (Erica cinerea)
common heather (Calluna vulgaris)
double heather (Calluna vulgaris vars.)
false heather (Fabiana imbricata, etc.)
goldenheather, golden heather (Hudsonia spp.)
green heather (Erica scoparia)
heather ale
heather cock (Tetrao urogallus)
heather grass (Danthonia decumbens)
heather-mixture
heather vole (Phenacomys spp.)
heathery
mock heather (Ericameria ericoides)
moss heather (Harrimanella spp.)
mountain heather (Cassiope spp., Phyllodoce spp.)
Scots heather (Calluna vulgaris)
summer heather (Calluna spp.)
tree heather (Erica arborea)
white heather (Cassiope spp.), etc.
winter-flowering heather (Erica carnea)
winter heather (Erica spp.)

Related terms

heath

Translations

plant

Albanian: shqopë (sq) f
Breton: brug (br) m
Catalan: bruc (ca) m, bruguerola
Chinese:
Mandarin: 帚石楠 (zhǒushínán)
Cornish: grug m
Czech: vřes m
Danish: hedelyng, lyng (da) n
Dutch: heide (nl)
Esperanto: eriko
Faroese: lyngur m
Finnish: kanerva (fi)
French: bruyère (fr) f, callune (fr) f
Galician: breixo (gl) m, uz (gl) f, queiroa (gl) f
German: Besenheide (de) f, Heidekraut (de) n
Greek: ρείκι (el) n (reíki), ερείκη (el) f (ereíki)
Ancient: ἐρείκη f (ereíkē)
Hungarian: hanga (hu), csarab (hu)
Irish: fraoch m
Italian: erica f, brugo m
Japanese: ギリュウモドキ (giryūmodoki)
Norman: brüethe f
Norwegian: røsslyng
Occitan: bruga (oc) f
Persian: خلنگ‎ (fa) (xalang)
Polish: wrzos (pl) m
Portuguese: urze (pt) f
Romanian: iarbă neagră f
Russian: ве́реск (ru) m (véresk)
Scottish Gaelic: fraoch m
Serbo-Croatian: vrijes (sh) m, vresak (sh) m, vres m
Roman: vrijesak (sh) m
Spanish: brezo (es) m, urce m
Swedish: ljung (sv) c
Volapük: brüyär (vo)
Võro: kanarik
Welsh: grug (cy)

various species of the genus Erica

Catalan: bruc (ca)
Czech: vřesovec m
Finnish: kanerva (fi)
French: éricacée (fr) f
Galician: uz (gl) f, breixo (gl) m, queiroa (gl) f
German: Heide (de) f, Erika (de) f
Alemannic German: Brüüsch n
Greek:
Ancient: ἐρείκη f (ereíkē)
Italian: brugo m, erica f
Portuguese: urze (pt) f
Scottish Gaelic: fraoch m
Serbo-Croatian: vres m, vrijes (sh) m, vresak (sh) m, vrijesak (sh) m
Swedish: ljung (sv) c, klockljung c

colour

French: bruyère (fr) (usually affixed to another color), lilas (fr) m
Serbo-Croatian: boja vrijesa f, boja vresa f, boja vrijeska f, boja vreska f
Welsh: ehöeg

Adjective

heather (not comparable)

Of a purple colour with a tint of pink and blue.

References

Meredith, L. P. (1872), “Heather”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech, Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 24.

Anagrams

heareth

[1] Meredith, L. P. (1872), “Heather”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech, Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 24.