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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

Eight years on, there is still no heather in large patches.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

It covered about six square kilometres of heather and small trees at its height, with more than 500 firefighters tackling it.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

Greiff points out baby heather plants nearby now able to grow in gaps left by decayed moss.

From BBC ● May 30, 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

The heather which he had brought was set up dramatically in a cup with no water—she was every inch the homebody—and he was free to go.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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

For Heather Matula, an Atwater Village parent of three, 9/11 is personal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The scammers used that line on Heather and Melissa Brown’s mother.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

The project was a collaboration between Bhaduri's lab and Heather Christofk's lab and was led by co-first authors Jessenya Mil and Jose Soto.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

"Can you stay and help me look for Hollywood Heather?"

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

Related Words

• drab
• dusty
• silvery