Heathy

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Land abundant with low-growing shrubs such as heather, gorse, or ling ; having the appearance or qualities typical of open moorland or wild uncultivated ground
2. Ground thickly populated by heath vegetation ; exhibiting the sparse, windswept, or barren character associated with heathland environments
3. Terrain dominated by hardy heath plants ; showing the open, exposed, or bleak features distinctive of heathy landscape or terrain

Etymology: "Heathy" is a plain formation: the noun "heath," meaning open uncultivated land covered with low shrubs such as heather, combined with the suffix "-y," which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "having the qualities of" or "characterized by" the base. So a heathy place is one covered in heath, or one that resembles such open, scrubby ground. The suffix does the same job in many everyday words, such as "grassy," "stony," and "leafy," and "heathy" follows that pattern exactly. The word is therefore best understood as a descriptive adjective built on demand from the older noun rather than a term with a separate history of its own.

Synonyms: heathery