heath

Etymology

From Middle English heeth, heth, 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”).

noun

1. A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.
2. Any small evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae.
   1. Many of the species in the genus Erica
   2. Many of the species in the genus Cassiope
   3. Both species in the genus Daboecia
   4. Any of the species in the genus Epacris, Australian heath
   5. Any of the species in the genus Leucopogon, beard heath
   6. Any of the species in the genus Phyllodoce, mountain heath
3. (countable) Certain butterflies and moths
   1. The palearctic species of Coenonympha, a genus of brush-footed butterfly
      1. Coenonympha pamphilus, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and Northern Africa, the small heath
      2. Coenonympha tullia, native to Europe, Asia except tropical India and Indochina, and North America, the large heath
   2. Melitaea athalia, the heath fritillary
   3. Semiothisa clathrata, a moth known as the latticed heath
   4. Ematurga atomaria, the common heath