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PlainSpell

heat

/ˈhiːt/noun, verb

heat is spelled H-E-A-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, heat means “Thermal energy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of heat is heats.

How many letters and syllables are in heat?

Letters4: H-E-A-T
Syllables1
In writing72 times per million words; the 1,457th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is heat?

Heat appears 72 times per million words in written English, the 1,457th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce heat?

  • /ˈhiːt/
  • [ˈhɪi̯t]

As a verb (“To cause an increase in temperature of (an object or…”): /hiːt/, /hit/.

Heat has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-heat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with heat?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as heat from its last stressed vowel (/it/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: hate, eath, heta.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of heat

  • heats plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • heating participle, present
  • heated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does heat mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Thermal energy.

    This furnace puts out 5000 BTUs of heat. That engine is really throwing off some heat. Removal of heat from the liquid caused it to turn into a solid.

  2. 2

    The condition or quality of being hot.

    Stay out of the heat of the sun!

  3. 3

    An attribute of a spice that causes a burning sensation in the mouth.

    The chili sauce gave the dish heat.

  4. 4

    A period of intensity, particularly of emotion.

    It's easy to make bad decisions in the heat of the moment.

  5. 5

    An undesirable amount of attention.

    The heat from her family after her DUI arrest was unbearable.

  6. 6

    A fastball.

    The catcher called for the heat, high and tight.

  7. 7

    A condition in which a mammal is aroused sexually or where it is especially fertile and therefore eager to mate.

    The male canines were attracted by the female in heat.

  8. 8

    slangIn omegaverse fiction, a cyclical period in which omegas experience an intense, sometimes irresistible biological urge to mate.

    When Yuri goes into his first heat, it is not only an uncomfortable and traumatic physical experience, it is also an identity crisis: this is the moment realizes that he is an omega, and not a beta as he had previously assumed.

verb

  1. 1

    To cause an increase in temperature of (an object or space); to cause to become hot (often with "up").

    I'll heat up the water.

  2. 2

    To become hotter.

    There's a pot of soup heating on the stove.

  3. 3

    To excite or make hot by action or emotion; to make feverish.

  4. 4

    To excite ardour in; to rouse to action; to excite to excess; to inflame, as the passions.

  5. 5

    slangTo arouse, to excite (sexually).

    The massage heated her up.

noun

as HEAT
  1. 1

    Acronym of high explosive antitank, a munition using a high explosive shaped charge to breach armour.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Heat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchaleur (thermal energy), piquant (attribute of a spice that causes a burning…), excitation (period of intensity, particularly of emotion), flicaille (slang: the police), artillerie (slang: one or more firearms), chauffer (to cause an increase in temperature of an…)
GermanWärmeenergie, Wärme (thermal energy), Schärfe (attribute of a spice that causes a burning…), erhitzen, heizen (to cause an increase in temperature of an…), Hitze (condition or quality of being hot)
Portuguesecalor (thermal energy), picância (attribute of a spice that causes a burning…), fervor (period of intensity, particularly of emotion), bófia (slang: the police), aquecer (to cause an increase in temperature of an…), pressão (undesirable amount of attention)
Spanishcalor (thermal energy), picante, picor (attribute of a spice that causes a burning…), calentar, caldear (to cause an increase in temperature of an…), calidez (condition or quality of being hot)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does heat come from?

From Middle English hete, from Old English hǣtu, from Proto-West Germanic *haitī, from Proto-Germanic *haitį̄ (“heat”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“heat; hot”). Cognate with Scots hete (“heat”), Saterland Frisian Hatte (“heat”), Old High German heizī (“heat”). Related also to Dutch hitte (“heat”), German Hitze (“heat”), Swedish hetta (“heat”), Faroese and Icelandic hiti (“heat”). Related to hot.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after heat