Heathiest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Most thickly covered with heath, the low shrubby plants and open moorland vegetation of barren ground
2. Having the greatest amount of heather and low woody shrubs growing across open, unfarmed land
3. Describing the land that is most densely carpeted with heath plants and other moorland shrubs

Etymology: "Heathiest" is the superlative of "heathy," which means abounding in heath, the low shrubby vegetation of open, acidic moorland. So the word has two layers: "heathiest" is the most heathy of things, and "heathy" itself is built from "heath" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y," the same ending found in "stony," "woody," or "earthy." "Heath" is an old English word for open uncultivated land covered in low shrubs, such as heather and gorse, and the adjective simply describes ground that has more of it. The superlative form follows the usual English pattern for adjectives ending in -y: the "y" changes to "i" before "-est," giving "heathiest" rather than "heathyest."

Synonyms: heathery, heathlike