Heath Meaning
/hiːθ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.
nounAny small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae.
Sentence Examples
A heath is often created or expanded by fire, which prevents the growth of trees.
Before she could even talk, Ellie Heath used to spend hours drawing.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hikers walked across the open ____ covered in wild flowers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The vast, open ____ was covered in purple flowers and small bushes as far as the eye could see.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English heth, heeth, 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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath/3. There to meet with Macbeth"
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
"These two stood in the corridor, waving till the last of the platform was out of sight; then they came into our compartment, and the woman cried a little. Soon she dried her eyes, and went back into the corridor, to have a last glimpse of her native heath."
— 1955 May, Rev. A. W. V. Mace, “An Irish Journey—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 303:
"There was nobody living in Jim's old house, and some of the windows was broken; but there was heath growing back and front."
— 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 258:
""But it must be better still outside, though. They say thousands of people are out in the parks and on the Heath watching it all.""
— 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 13:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hikers walked across the open ____ covered in wild flowers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The vast, open ____ was covered in purple flowers and small bushes as far as the eye could see.