heave
/ˈhiːv/verb, noun
heave is spelled H-E-A-V-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, heave means “To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in heave?
| Letters | 5: H-E-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 32,798th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 heave?
Heave appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 32,798th 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 heave?
- /ˈhiːv/
- [ˈhɪi̯v]
Heave has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-heave.ogg, En-au-heave.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with heave?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as heave.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: hevea.
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 heave
- heaves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- heaving participle, present
- heaved past, participle
- hove past, participle
- hoven participle, past
- heft participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does heave mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing).
We heaved the chest-of-drawers up to the second-floor landing.
- 2
To throw, cast.
They hove rocks into the pond.
- 3
To rise and fall.
Her chest heaved with emotion.
- 4
To utter with effort.
She heaved a sigh and stared out of the window.
- 5
To pull up with a rope or cable.
Heave up the anchor there, boys!
- 6
archaicTo lift (generally); to raise, or cause to move upwards (particularly in ships or vehicles) or forwards.
- 7
To be thrown up or raised; to rise upward, as a tower or mound.
17 June, 1857, Edward Everett, The Statue of Warren the heaving sods of Bunker Hill
- 8
To displace (a vein, stratum).
noun
- 1
An effort to raise something, such as a weight or one's own body, or to move something heavy.
We gave one more heave and the wall toppled over at last.
- 2
An upward motion; a rising; a swell or distention, as of the breast in difficult breathing, of the waves, of the earth in an earthquake, etc.
- 3
A horizontal dislocation in a metallic lode, taking place at an intersection with another lode.
- 4
The measure of extent to which a nautical vessel goes up and down in a short period of time.
- 5
An effort to vomit; retching.
- 6
rareBroken wind in horses.
- 7
A forceful shot in which the ball follows a high trajectory
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Heave in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hisser |
| German | heben, hieven , werfen, wuchten, schleudern |
| Portuguese | levantar |
| Spanish | tirar , basquear , ondular |
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 heave come from?
From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, from the root *kap-. See also have.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).