heaven
Meanings
- The sky, specifically:
- The distant sky in which the sun, moon, and stars appear or move; the firmament; the celestial spheres.
- The near sky in which weather, flying animals, etc. appear; (obsolete) the atmosphere; the climate.
- A model displaying the movement of the celestial bodies, an orrery.
- The abode of God or the gods, traditionally conceived as beyond the sky; especially:
- The abode of God and of the angels and saints in His presence.
- The abode of the Abrahamic God; similar abodes of the gods in other religions and traditions, such as Mount Olympus.
- Providence, the will of God or the council of the gods; fate.
- The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell); specifically
- The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell); specifically:
- Paradise, the afterlife of the souls who are not sent to a place of punishment or purification such as hell, purgatory, or limbo; the state or condition of being in the presence of God after death.
- The afterlife of the blessed dead in other religions and traditions, such as the Pure Land or Elysium.
- To transport to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed.
- To beatify, enchant, or please greatly.
- To beautify, to make into a paradise.
- The abode of God or the gods, when considered as a specific location; the abode of the blessed departed who reside in the presence of God or the gods
- Providence, the will of God or the gods, when considered as a personal entity or specific aspect of the divine; Fate
- Other extended senses of heaven as a specific place similar to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed departed
- The sky, particularly its distant aspect as the abode of the sun, moon, and stars
- The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.
- A surname originating as a patronymic derived from Evan
- A female given name from English of modern usage from the noun heaven.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From a wide variety of Middle English forms including hevene, heven, hevin, and hewin (“heaven, sky”), from Old English heofon, heofone (“heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hebn (“heaven, sky”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots heiven, hewin (“heaven, sky”), Middle Dutch heven (“sky, heaven”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), and possibly the rare Icelandic and Old Norse hifinn (“heaven, sky”), which are all probably dissimilated forms of the Germanic root which appears in Old Norse himinn (“heaven, sky”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven, sky”), Old Swedish himin, Old Danish himæn and probably also (in another variant form) Old Saxon himil, Old Dutch himil (modern Dutch hemel), and Old High German himil (German Himmel). Accepting these as cognates, some scholars propose a further derivation from Proto-Germanic *himinaz (“cover, cloud cover, firmament, sky, heaven”).