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• heather
  heather

  noun

  any of various heaths, especially Calluna vulgaris, of England and Scotland, having small, pinkish-purple flowers.
• Heather
  Heather

  noun

  a female given name.

heather

¹ American  

[heth-er] / ˈhɛð ər /

noun

1. any of various heaths, especially Calluna vulgaris, of England and Scotland, having small, pinkish-purple flowers.

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adjective

1. (of a yarn or fabric color) subtly flecked or mottled.

   all-cotton turtlenecks in your choice of five solid colors plus heather gray and heather green.

Heather ² American  

[heth-er] / ˈhɛð ər /

noun

1. a female given name.

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heather British  

/ ˈhɛðə /

noun

1. Also called: ling, heath. a low-growing evergreen Eurasian ericaceous shrub, Calluna vulgaris, that grows in dense masses on open ground and has clusters of small bell-shaped typically pinkish-purple flowers

2. any of certain similar plants

3. a purplish-red to pinkish-purple colour

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adjective

1. of a heather colour

2. of or relating to interwoven yarns of mixed colours

   heather mixture

Other Word Forms

• heathered
  adjective
• heathery
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of heather

1300–50; spelling variant of hether, earlier hedder, hadder, hather, Middle English hathir; akin to heath

Explanation

Heather is a hearty flowering plant that's common in many parts of the world but most famous for growing in the Scottish Highlands. Heather grows in low, dense mats, often in soil that's wet, acidic, or otherwise inhospitable. In Scotland, millions of acres are carpeted in colorful heather, and the country is closely associated with the plant. The Old English root of heather is hæddre, and the word was mainly used in Scots until the 16th century. As a girl's name, Heather was extremely rare until the 1930s, and its popularity exploded in the 1970s and 80s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heather Heather

The mountain also saw a "big upsurge" in heather beetles this year - possibly linked to milder winters.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

One imagines not the ghost of Cathy or Heathcliff, but a trio of women, very much alive and striding through the heather, their minds alight with the stories they would tell, set among similar terrain.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

Spring has always been the season of greatest wildfire risk, when dry vegetation such as grass and heather can easily burn.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Only decades ago many of the cottages in Scotland’s Highlands were roofed in heather, bracken and marram grass.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

It opened southward, leaning back into the slope of round Dol Baran, the last hill of the northern ranges, greenfooted, crowned with heather.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Year: 2020 Compiled by: Heather Schwedel Of note: Yes, all 22 celebrities in That Video are ranked.

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026

The council voted 12-0 to put the measure on the ballot, with Councilmembers Heather Hutt, Curren Price and Monica Rodriguez absent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Heather Park, who has tickets this weekend, said she's worried some shows might be cancelled.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

While Dans is a minor player in the federal government, “when he speaks, international audiences and officials see him as representing U.S. policy,” said Heather Conley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026

"Do you think maybe Cassidy took Hollywood Heather?"

From "Sleepover Sleuths: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #1" by Carolyn Keene

Related Words

• drab
• dusty
• silvery