Heavens

How to spell heavens

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce heavens

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does heavens mean?

1. nounThe sky or the vast expanse of space, especially as seen at night.
2. interjectionAn exclamation of surprise, alarm, or emphasis, often in the phrase 'good heavens'.

Heavens in a sentence

• noun

  The astronomer spent the night charting the heavens through her telescope.

• interjection

  Good heavens, she had not expected the bill to be so large.

• noun

  Ancient sailors navigated by reading the stars in the heavens.

• interjection

  Oh my heavens, the cake had burned to a crisp while she answered the phone.

Where does heavens come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural of 'heaven', which descends from the Old English heofon, a native Germanic word meaning the visible sky or firmament, the vault arching over the earth. Its earliest sense was purely physical, the dome of air and stars above us, and only later did it take on the religious meaning of the dwelling place of God and the blessed. The same root appears in related Germanic forms, though the precise prehistoric source is debated and the connection to other branches is uncertain. The plural 'heavens' kept the original spatial idea, so it has long meant the whole expanse of the sky, especially the night sky with its stars. Because the word is so old and so common, its spelling is stable; the trap is simply the unstressed second syllable, written -ven- but barely sounded.

How the word is built

• heaven (from Old English heofon: sky, firmament)
• -s (plural)