English Word Reference Free

heavy

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Browse Words → Compare Confusables

By · Reviewed against Wiktionary & Hunspell sources ·

Letters

5 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "heavy", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "heavy" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "heavy" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

heavy is anEnglishadj. It means: Having great weight. Pronounced /ˈhɛv.i/. It ranks #1,170 in English word frequency. Often confused with hey and henry.

Key facts for heavy
PropertyValue
Headwordheavy
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ˈhɛv.i/
Letters5
Frequency rank#1,170
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of heavy in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for heavy is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhɛv.i/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,170 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 26 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for heavy, with forms such as "ehavy", "haevy", and "heavvy". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "hey", "henry", "hefty", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, wei… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is heavy, spelled H-E-A-V-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Having great weight.
  2. 2
    Having great weight.
  3. 3
    Serious, somber.
  4. 4
    Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.
  5. 5
    Good.
  6. 6
    Profound.
  7. 7
    High, great.
  8. 8
    Armed.
  9. 9
    Loud, distorted, or intense.
  10. 10
    Hot and humid.
  11. 11
    Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.
  12. 12
    With eyelids difficult to keep open due to tiredness.
  13. 13
    High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.
  14. 14
    Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense.
  15. 15
    Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with grief, pain, disappointment, etc.
  16. 16
    Slow; sluggish; inactive; or lifeless, dull, inanimate, stupid.
  17. 17
    Impeding motion; cloggy; clayey.
  18. 18
    Not raised or leavened.
  19. 19
    Having much body or strength.
  20. 20
    With child; pregnant.
  21. 21
    Containing one or more isotopes that are heavier than the normal one.
  22. 22
    Of petroleum, having high viscosity.
  23. 23
    Of a market: in which the price of shares is declining.
  24. 24
    Heavily-armed.
  25. 25
    Having a relatively high takeoff weight and payload.
  26. 26
    Having a relatively high takeoff weight and payload.

Etymology

From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to take, grasp, hold”). Related to have. Cognate with Scots hevy, havy, heavy (“heavy”), Saterland Frisian heeuwich, häwich (“violent, angry”), West Frisian hevich (“violent”), Dutch hevig (“violent, severe, intense, acute”), German Low German hevig (“violent, fierce, intense, angry”), German hebig (compare heftig (“fierce, severe, intense, violent, heavy”)), Icelandic höfugur (“heavy, weighty, important”), Latin capāx (“large, wide, roomy, spacious, capacious, capable, apt”). Compare typologically Russian объёмный (obʺjómnyj), ёмкий (jómkij) (akin to име́ть (imétʹ), взять (vzjatʹ)).

Synonyms

sweerswear

Antonyms

light

This word in other languages

Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)French(Français)German(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ehavy,haevy,heavvy,heavyy,heayv,hevay,hheavy

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for heavy

Misspelling Variants of "heavy"

ehavy5haevy5heavvy6heavyy6heayv5hevay5hheavy6
Misspelling Variants of "heavy"

Frequency rank: #1,170 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "heavy"?
"heavy" is spelled H-E-A-V-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈhɛv.i/.
What does "heavy" mean?
As an adj, "heavy" means: Having great weight.
What words are commonly confused with "heavy"?
"heavy" is commonly confused with "hey", "henry", "hefty". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "heavy"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "heavy" is /ˈhɛv.i/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "heavy"?
From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter H in our English index:

All "H" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

Explore PlainSpell

English Words

Browse all English

Words: H

Browse "h" words

Confusable Pairs

Commonly confused words

Spelling Guides

Tips & reference

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.