# heavy

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈhɛv.i/ · frequency rank #1,170

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

## Easily confused with
- **hey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heavy-vs-hey)
- **henry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heavy-vs-henry)
- **hefty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heavy-vs-hefty)
- **Henny** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heavy-vs-henny)
- **Hervey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heavy-vs-hervey)
- **hay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hay-vs-heavy)
- **hav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hav-vs-heavy)
- **hea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hea-vs-heavy)
- **have** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/have-vs-heavy)
- **head** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/head-vs-heavy)
- **hear** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hear-vs-heavy)
- **heat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heat-vs-heavy)
- **heal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heal-vs-heavy)
- **heap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heap-vs-heavy)
- **hazy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hazy-vs-heavy)
- **heart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heart-vs-heavy)
- **heard** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heard-vs-heavy)
- **heads** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heads-vs-heavy)
- **hears** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hears-vs-heavy)
- **heath** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heath-vs-heavy)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ehavy`, `haevy`, `heavvy`, `heavyy`, `heayv`, `hevay`, `hheavy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/heavy