Heather Is Named After the Heath, Not the Other Way Round
A heath is open uncultivated land with low shrubs. The plant heather takes its name from the landscape it dominates.
A heath is an area of open uncultivated land covered with low shrubs. The plant name follows the place: *heather* derives from *heath*, the landscape, rather than the heath being named after the plant. English lowland heath is not natural wilderness but the result of clearance and grazing, and it disappears without management. *Heathen* is from the same root, meaning someone who lived out on the heath, away from the Christianised towns.
- Open shrubland. *Lowland heath.*
- Heather — the plant. *Purple heather.*
- Heathen — from the same root. *A heathen.*
- Moor — the upland equivalent. *Moorland.*
- Gorse — a common heath shrub. *Yellow gorse.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | heath | Open heath. |
| Plural | heaths | Lowland heaths. |
| Related | heather | Heather. |
| Related | heathen | A heathen. |
| Old English | hæð | Heath. |
- The heath is managed by grazing.Conservation.
- Heather flowers in late summer.The plant.
- Heathen meant one living on the heath.Etymology.
Heath, moor, bog
- Heath — dry, lowland, sandy, acidic soil
- Moor — upland, wetter, often with peat
- Bog — permanently waterlogged, peat-forming
- Fen — wetland fed by groundwater rather than rain
- Lowland heath is rarer than rainforest in Britain and needs active management
Old English *hæð*, an untilled area or the plant heather, from a Germanic root shared with German *Heide*.
Is heather named after heath?
Yes. The landscape name came first, and the plant that grows on it took its name from the place.
Why does heathen come from heath?
It described people living out on uncultivated land, beyond the reach of the towns where Christianity spread first.