heartstring C2+ Topic:Numbers & Quantity US /ˈhɑːrtˌstrɪŋ/ UK /ˈhɑːtˌstrɪŋ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun one's deepest feelings or affections (usually plural) The orphan's plea tugged at every heartstring in the hall. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · one's deepest feelings or... affectionemotionfeeling Word family Related forms heartstring Etymology AI details A compound of heart and string, originally referring to the tendons or nerves once believed to brace the heart; both elements of Old English origin (heorte, streng). heorte Old English streng Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Numbers & Quantity Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # heartstring **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈhɑːrtˌstrɪŋ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈhɑːtˌstrɪŋ/ ## Meanings 1. one's deepest feelings or affections (usually plural) ## Examples - The orphan's plea tugged at every heartstring in the hall. ## Synonyms - affection - emotion - feeling ## Related Forms - heart - string ## Roots and Affixes - Root: heorte - Root: streng ## Etymology A compound of heart and string, originally referring to the tendons or nerves once believed to brace the heart; both elements of Old English origin (heorte, streng). ## AI Etymology heartstring is a compound of heart and string, originally referring to the tendons or nerves once believed to brace the heart; both elements of Old English origin (heorte, streng). Morphologically, the word is best read through the components named in the history, with the modern spelling preserving a compound structure rather than a single unanalyzable stem. In present English, the noun sense is "one's deepest feelings or affections (usually plural)", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as heart and string. Its semantic neighborhood includes affection, emotion, and feeling, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old English heorte and Old English streng. ## Topics - Numbers & Quantity - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown