heart attack

noun

"heart-attack" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“heart attack” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An acute myocardial infarction, sometimes fatal, caused by the sudden occurrence of coronary thrombosis, which obstructs the blood supply to the heart and leads to necrosis of heart muscle tissue.

Corpus desk

Index EN-heart-attack · heart attack · English

heart attack · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for heart attack
PropertyValue
Headwordheart attack
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “heart attack” in English

heart attackranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

heart attack is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for heart attack in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is heart attack, spelled H-E-A-R-T- -A-T-T-A-C-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    An acute myocardial infarction, sometimes fatal, caused by the sudden occurrence of coronary thrombosis, which obstructs the blood supply to the heart and leads to necrosis of heart muscle tissue.
  2. 2
    A major fright.
  3. 3
    Death or failure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how heart attack appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Before kick-off, a section of Chelsea's support sadly let themselves and their club down by noisily interrupting the silence held in memory of the Hillsborough disaster and for Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini, who collapsed and died after suffering a heart attack during a Serie B game on Saturday.
  2. She'll have a heart attack when she sees that!

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "heart attack"?
"heart attack" is spelled H-E-A-R-T- -A-T-T-A-C-K.
What does "heart attack" mean?
As a noun, "heart attack" means: An acute myocardial infarction, sometimes fatal, caused by the sudden occurrence of coronary thrombosis, which obstructs the blood supply to the heart and leads to necrosis of heart muscle tissue.
What language does "heart attack" come from?
"heart attack" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list