warm the cockles of someone's heart
/wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/
"warm-the-cockles-of-someone-s-heart" is a 29-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“warm the cockles of someone's heart” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 35
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Especially of food or drink (particularly an alcoholic beverage): to cause someone to feel deeply warm and comfortable; to comfort, to satisfy.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | warm the cockles of someone's heart |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/ |
| Letters | 35 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “warm the cockles of someone's heart” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
warm the cockles of someone's heart is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
warm the cockles of someone's heart has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *ḱḗr Either from: * the similarity of a closed cockle (“European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae”) to a heart; or * a corruption of Latin cochleae (“ventricles”) in cochleae cordis (“ventricles of the heart”). The term cockles of [someone’… The correct English form is warm the cockles of someone's heart, spelled W-A-R-M- -T-H-E- -C-O-C-K-L-E-S- -O-F- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -H-E-A-R-T.
Definition
- 1Especially of food or drink (particularly an alcoholic beverage): to cause someone to feel deeply warm and comfortable; to comfort, to satisfy.
- 2To provide someone with a deep feeling of contentment or happiness.
Etymology
PIE word *ḱḗr Either from: * the similarity of a closed cockle (“European bivalve mollusk of the family Cardiidae”) to a heart; or * a corruption of Latin cochleae (“ventricles”) in cochleae cordis (“ventricles of the heart”). The term cockles of [someone’s] heart is first attested in 1671: see the quotation.
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
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Using “warm the cockles of someone's heart”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-R-M- -T-H-E- -C-O-C-K-L-E-S- -O-F- -S-O-M-E-O-N-E-'-S- -H-E-A-R-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /wɔːm ðə ˈkɒk.əlz əv ˌsʌm.wənz ˈhɑːt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.