heath

The word “heath” means an open, uncultivated stretch of land, typically with sandy soil and low shrubs like heather. In plain terms, wild open moorland, or the low shrubs that grow on it.

“Heath” is pronounced heeth (/hiːθ/ in IPA).

Here is “heath” used in a sentence: “They walked across the heath as the sun set.”

Words with a similar meaning to “heath” include heather.

“Heath” is a noun.

The word “heath” comes from Old English. From Old English hǣþ, an old Germanic word for wild, untilled land — the same root that gives us "heather" and "heathen" (originally "one who lives on the heath").

“Heath” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Heath” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: an open, uncultivated stretch of land, typically with sandy soil and low shrubs like heather.

A heath is an open, uncultivated stretch of land with sandy soil and low shrubs like heather, while a moor is typically higher, wetter, and more open ground, often with peaty soil. The two overlap in appearance and are sometimes used interchangeably, but moors tend to be found at higher elevations.

Not exactly: heath refers to the type of open land itself, or to small evergreen shrubs in the heather family growing there, while heather specifically refers to one such shrub. Heather is one of the plants typically found growing on a heath.

Heath land is named partly for the low evergreen shrubs, including heather, that typically grow across it. Because heather is so common on these landscapes, the terms heath and heather are closely linked, with heath also used as a plant name for related shrubs.