heavy

English

Etymology

From Middle English hevy, from Old English hefiġ.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hev'i, IPA: /ˈhɛvi/, SAMPA: /"hEvi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvi

Adjective

heavy (comparative heavier, superlative heaviest)

Four men lifting a heavy sideboard.

1. (of a physical object) Having great weight.
2. (of a topic) Serious, somber.
3. (UK, slang) good.

   This film is heavy.

4. (dated, late 1960s, 1970s, US) Profound.

   The Moody Blues are, like, heavy.

5. (of a rate of flow) High, great.
6. (slang) armed.

   Come heavy, or not at all.

7. (Music terminology) louder, more distorted

   Metal is heavier than swing.

8. (of weather) hot and humid
9. (of a person) doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.

   He was a heavy sleeper, heavy eater and a heavy smoker - certainly not an ideal husband.

10. (of food) high in fat or protein; difficult to digest.

    Cheese stuffed sausage is too heavy to eat before exercising.

11. Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense;

    It was a heavy storm

    A heavy slumber in bed

    A heavy punch

    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

      The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing.

12. laden to a great extent.

    His eyes were heavy with sleep

    She was heavy with child

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with heavy.

Derived terms

heavily heaviness heavy-armed heavy artillery heavy chain heavy-coated heavy cream heavy drinker heavy drinking heavy-duty heavy-footed heavy goods heavy-handed heavyhead heavy-headed heavy-hearted heavy hitter heavy hydrogen heavy industry heavy ion

heavyish heavy-laden heavy-lift heavy lifting heavy metal heavy oil heavy particle heavy roller heavy-set/heavyset heavy sink heavy spar heavy tail heavy water heavyweight heavy wet HGV hot and heavy semi-heavy top-heavy

Translations

having great weight

Afrikaans: swaar Albanian: rëndë (sq) Amuzgo: ja Arabic: ثقيل (ar) (thakiil) Egyptian Arabic: تقيل (ti'iil) Armenian: ծանր (çanr), ծանր (hy) (çanr) Aromanian: greu Belarusian: цяжкі (be) (cjážki) Bulgarian: тежък (bg) (téžǎk) m. Burmese: လေး (my) (le:) Chamicuro: pwawa Chinese: Mandarin: 重的 (zh) (zhòng de) Crimean Tatar: ağır (northern dialect avur) Croatian: težak (hr) Czech: těžký (cs) Danish: tung (da) Dutch: zwaar (nl), zware (nl) Esperanto: peza (eo) Estonian: raske (et) Faroese: tungur (fo) Finnish: painava (fi), raskas (fi) French: lourd (fr) m., lourde (fr) f., pesant (fr) m., pesante (fr) f. German: schwer (de) Greek: βαρύς (el) m. (varýs) Hebrew: כבד (he) (kavéd) Hindi: भारा (hi) (bhārī) Hungarian: nehéz (hu) Icelandic: þungur (is) Ido: grava (io) Irish: trom (ga) Italian: pesante (it) m. and f., pesanti (it) Japanese: 重い (ja) (おもい, omoi)

Khmer: ធ្ងន់ (km) (tŋʊən) Korean: 무거운 (ko) (mugeo-un) Kurdish: Sorani: قورس (ku) (qurs) Latin: gravis (la) m. and f. Lithuanian: sunkus (lt) Luxembourgish: schwéier (lb) Macedonian: тежок (mk) (téžok) m. Navajo: nisdaaz (I am heavy), ndaaz (it is heavy) Old English: hefiġ (ang) Old Norse: þungr Persian: سنگین (fa) (sangin) Polish: ciężki (pl) Portuguese: pesado (pt) m., pesada (pt) f. Rohingya: bór Romani: pharo Romanian: greu m., grea f. Russian: тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj), тяжкий (ru) (tjážkij) Santali: ᱚᱡᱚᱨ (ajar) Scottish Gaelic: trom Slovak: ťažký (sk) Slovene: težek (sl) m. Spanish: pesado (es), pesada (es) Swahili: -zito (sw) Swedish: tung (sv) Telugu: బరువైన (baruvaina) Thai: หนัก (th) (nàk) Ukrainian: важкий (uk) (važkyj) Urdu: بھاری (ur) (bhārī) Vietnamese: nặng (vi) Welsh: trwm (cy) West Frisian: swier

serious

Czech: těžký (cs) Finnish: vakava (fi), painava (fi) French: lourd (fr) m., lourde (fr) f., grave (fr) m. and f., pesant (fr) m., pesante (fr) f. Greek: σοβαρός (el) m. (sovarós) Ido: grava (io)

Irish: tromchúiseach (ga) Japanese: 重い (ja) (おもい, omoi), 重大な (ja) (じゅうだいな, jūdai na), 深刻な (ja) (しんこくな, shinkoku na) Macedonian: тежок (mk) (téžok) m.

slang: good

Finnish: kova (fi)

Japanese: 素晴らしい (ja) (すばらしい, subarashii), すごい (ja) (sugoi)

of rate of flow: high

Finnish: vuolas (fi), kova (fi) Japanese: 大量の (ja) (たいりょうの, tairyō no), 多量の (ja) (たりょうの, taryō no), 激しい (ja) (はげしい, hageshii)

Macedonian: обилен (mk) (óbilen) m.

slang: armed

Japanese: 重装備 (ja) (じゅうそうび, jūsōbi)

of music: loud, distorted

Finnish: kova (fi)

of weather:hot and humid

French: lourd (fr) m., lourde (fr) f. Japanese: 蒸し暑い (ja) (むしあつい, mushiatsui), むっとした (ja) (mutto shita)

Macedonian: тешко (mk) (téško) n.

of a person:doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people

Czech: těžký (cs) French: gros (fr) m., grosse (fr) f.

Macedonian: тежок (mk) (téžok) m.

Adverb

heavy (not comparable)

1. (India, colloquial) very

Noun

heavy (plural heavys or heavies)

1. A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.

   With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films.

2. (slang) A doorman, bouncer or bodyguard.

   A fight started outside the bar but the heavies came out and stopped it.

3. (aviation) A large multi-engined aircraft.

   The term heavy normally follows the call-sign when used by air traffic controllers.

Translations

bad guy

Finnish: kovis (fi), pahis (fi)

Japanese: 悪漢 (ja) (あっかん, akkan)

slang: doorman

Japanese: 用心棒 (ja) (ようじんぼう, yōjinbō), ボディガード (ja) (bodigādo)

Verb

heavy (third-person singular simple present heavies, present participle heavying, simple past and past participle heavied)

1. (Australian, New Zealand) To use power and/or wealth to exert influence on, e.g., governments or corporations.

   The union was well known for the methods it used to heavy many businesses.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: company · sweet · duty · #614: heavy · single · foot · beauty