Hearts

How to spell hearts

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce hearts

What does hearts mean?

1. nounMore than one heart, the organ that pumps blood, often used figuratively for feelings or affection.
2. nounThe red suit marked with heart symbols in a deck of cards, or the trick-taking game named after it.

Hearts in a sentence

• The surgeon explained how transplanted hearts are matched to recipients.

• She held three hearts and a single spade after the deal.

• The charity appeal touched the hearts of thousands of donors.

• The family played hearts around the kitchen table all evening.

Where does hearts come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural of 'heart', which descends from the Old English 'heorte', the word for the muscular organ that pumps blood. That noun goes back to a shared Germanic ancestor and ultimately to an Indo-European root that also produced the Latin 'cor' (heart) and the Greek 'kardia' (heart), the source of words like 'cardiac' and 'cordial'. From very early on the heart was treated as the seat of courage, love, and feeling, so the figurative senses about emotion and inner life sat alongside the literal organ for centuries. The puzzling spelling, with 'ea' pronounced as a short vowel, reflects an older long vowel that shifted over time while the spelling stayed put, which is why 'heart' looks as though it should rhyme with 'beard' rather than 'cart'. The plural simply adds the regular '-s', and the card-suit meaning grew from the heart-shaped symbol painted on French playing cards.

How the word is built

• heart (Old English heorte: the organ, seat of feeling)
• -s (plural marker)