Heartwarming

How to spell heartwarming

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce heartwarming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does heartwarming mean?

1. adjectiveProducing a feeling of warm, tender happiness or emotional comfort.

Heartwarming in a sentence

• The volunteers shared a heartwarming story about reuniting the lost dog with its owner.

• It was heartwarming to see neighbours rallying to rebuild the flooded community hall.

Where does heartwarming come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound built from two of the oldest words in the language, both inherited from Old English: 'heart', which came from 'heorte', and 'warm', which came from 'wearm'. Across many cultures the heart has long been treated as the seat of feeling rather than just a pump, so 'warming the heart' became a natural figure for something that produces tender, comforting emotion. The adjective 'heartwarming' itself is comparatively young, appearing in English around the early 1600s and becoming common only in modern times to describe stories, gestures, and reunions that stir gentle affection. Because both halves are native Germanic words spelled exactly as they sound, the only real spelling trap is remembering that it is written as one closed word, with no hyphen and no space, and that the silent-ish 'r' in 'heart' must not be dropped.

How the word is built

• heart (the organ, seat of emotion)
• warm (to make warm)
• -ing (adjective suffix)