/ ˈheðə(r); NAmE / noun
[ U ] a low wild plant with small purple, pink or white flowers, that grows on hills and areas of wild open land (= moorland )
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English hadre , hedre (recorded in place names), of unknown origin. The word was chiefly Scots until the 16th cent.; the change in the first syllable in the 18th cent. was due to association with heath .