Hardy or hearty?
hardy is an adjective meaning “Having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships”; hearty is an adjective meaning “Warm and cordial towards another person”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) hardy is about 3.0 times as common as hearty.
What is the difference between hardy and hearty?
| hardy | hearty | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective, noun |
| Meaning | Having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships Able to survive adverse growing conditions, especially frost Anything, especially a plant, that is hardy | Warm and cordial towards another person Energetic, active or eager |
| Example | A hardy plant is one that can withstand the extremes of climate, such as frost | a hearty welcome; hearty in supporting the government |
| Forms | hardier, hardiest | heartier, heartiest |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɑɹdi/ /ˈhɑːdi/ | /ˈhɑɹti/ /ˈhɑːti/ |
| In writing | 7.2 times per million words | 2.4 times per million words |
Sources: hardy and hearty in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of hardy and hearty
hardy
- 1
Having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships
- 2
Anything, especially a plant, that is hardy
- 3
Able to survive adverse growing conditions, especially frost
A hardy plant is one that can withstand the extremes of climate, such as frost
- 4
A blacksmith's fuller or chisel, having a square shank for insertion into a square hole in an anvil
- 5
Brave and resolute
- 6
A hardy hole
- 7
Impudent
hearty
- 1
Warm and cordial towards another person
a hearty welcome; hearty in supporting the government
- 2
Energetic, active or eager
a hearty appetite
- 3
Cheerful; vivacious
a hearty fellow
- 4
Exhibiting strength; firm; courageous
a hearty handshake; a hearty timber
- 5
Promoting strength; nourishing
hearty food
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, hardy or hearty?
hardy appears 7.2 times per million words; hearty 2.4 times per million words.
hardy 7.2 times per million wordshearty 2.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search hardy vs hearty?
“hardy vs hearty” is searched about 1,600 times a month on Google and 50 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“hearty vs hardy”, “hardy or hearty”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.