# Heart symbol

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{{short description|Symbol representing the heart}}
{{hatgrp|{{About|the graphical symbol|the symbolic or metaphorical use of the word|Heart#Symbolism}}
{{redirect-multi|2|Love symbol|Love heart|the 1992 album|Love Symbol{{!}}''Love Symbol''|the candy|Love Hearts}}}}
{{multiple image
| footer    =
| align     =
| direction = vertical
| image1    = Heart corazón.svg
| width1    = 160
| caption1  = Conventional heart symbol
| image2    = ArrowHeart.svg
| width2    = 160
| caption2  = A heart symbol pierced with an arrow, symbolizing [romantic love](/source/romantic_love) (being [lovestruck](/source/lovestruck), or the pain of [lovesickness](/source/lovesickness))
| image3    = Sagrado Corazon mueble heraldico.svg
| width3    = 160
| caption3  = A typical depiction of the [Sacred Heart](/source/Sacred_Heart) (often shown with other attributes, e.g. surmounted by a cross, pierced by nails or swords, etc.)
}}
The '''heart symbol''' is an [ideograph](/source/ideograph) used to express the idea of the ["heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense](/source/heart_(metaphor)). The symbol is a symmetrical shape consisting of "two similar curves meeting in a point at one end and a [cusp](/source/cusp_(singularity)) at the other,"<ref>{{cite web|title=heart|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/heart_n|accessdate=March 25, 2026|website=[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)}}</ref> not an anatomically correct representation of a [heart](/source/heart). Often colored red, the heart symbol denotes the center of [emotion](/source/emotion), including [affection](/source/affection) and [love](/source/love), especially [romantic love](/source/romantic_love). While ancient antecedents may exist, this shape for the heart became fixed in Europe in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages). It is sometimes accompanied or superseded by a "wounded heart" symbol, depicted as a heart symbol pierced with an [arrow](/source/Cupid), indicating [lovesickness](/source/lovesickness), or as a "broken" heart symbol in two or more pieces, indicating [heartbreak](/source/Broken_heart).

==History==
===Similar shapes from antiquity===
[Peepal](/source/Peepal) leaves were used in artistic depictions by the [Indus Valley civilisation](/source/Indus_Valley_civilisation); a heart-shaped pendant originating from there has been discovered and is now exhibited in the [National Museum](/source/National_Museum%2C_New_Delhi) of India.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pendant - unknown|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pendant-unknown/xAFpdjIr0DeVLg|access-date=2020-10-21|website=Google Arts & Culture|language=en}}</ref> In the 5th–6th century BC, the heart shape was used in the Roman world to represent the seeds of the plant [silphium](/source/Silphium_(antiquity)),<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Favorito|first1=E. N.|last2=Baty |first2=K.|date=February 1995|title=The Silphium Connection|journal=Celator|volume=9|issue=2|pages=6–8}}</ref> a plant possibly used as a [contraceptive](/source/contraceptive) and an [aphrodisiac](/source/aphrodisiac).<ref name ="Straight Dope">[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/061013.html ''Did the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control?''], [The Straight Dope](/source/The_Straight_Dope), October 13, 2006</ref><ref name="BBC2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170907-the-mystery-of-the-lost-roman-herb|title=The mystery of the lost Roman herb|year=2017|work=BBC|author=Zaria Gorvett}}</ref> Silver coins from [Cyrene](/source/Cyrene%2C_Libya) of the 5th–6th century BC bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant and is understood to represent its seed or fruit.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Buttrey |first=T. V. |date=Spring–Summer 1992 |url=http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/34-1-2/Buttrey.pdf |title=The Coins and the Cult |journal=Expedition |volume=34 |issue=1–2 |pages=59–66 |access-date=2018-01-14 |archive-date=2023-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217223306/https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/34-1-2/Buttrey.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Since ancient times in [Japan](/source/Japan), the heart symbol has been called ''Inome'' (猪目), meaning the eye of a [wild boar](/source/wild_boar), and it has the meaning of warding off evil spirits. The decorations are used to decorate [Shinto shrines](/source/Shinto_shrines), [Buddhist temples](/source/Buddhist_temples), [castles](/source/Japanese_castle), and weapons.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hasedera.or.jp/free/?id=538|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130142805/https://www.hasedera.or.jp/free/?id=538|script-title=ja:幸せの猪目（いのめ）|language=ja|publisher=[Hase-dera](/source/Hase-dera)|archive-date=30 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fukagawafudou.jugem.jp/?eid=1143|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430110041/http://fukagawafudou.jugem.jp/?eid=1143|script-title=ja:お寺にハートマーク|language=ja|publisher=Fukagawa Fudoudou|archive-date=30 April 2022}}</ref> The oldest examples of this pattern are seen in some of the Japanese original ''[tsuba](/source/Japanese_sword_mountings)'' (sword guard) of the style called ''toran gata tsuba'' (lit., inverted egg shaped ''tsuba'') that were attached to swords from the sixth to seventh centuries, and part of the ''tsuba'' was hollowed out in the shape of a heart symbol.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E7%8C%AA%E7%9B%AE|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508003334/https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E7%8C%AA%E7%9B%AE|script-title=ja:猪目(いのめ)|language=ja|publisher=weblio|archive-date=8 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%80%92%E5%8D%B5%E5%BD%A2%E9%90%94|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026110858/https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%80%92%E5%8D%B5%E5%BD%A2%E9%90%94|script-title=ja:倒卵形鐔（とうらんがたつば）|language=ja|publisher=weblio|archive-date=26 October 2017}}</ref>

===Earliest use===
The combination of the heart shape and its use within the heart metaphor was developed in the end of the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages), although the shape has been used in many ancient epigraphy monuments and texts. With possible early examples or direct predecessors in the 13th to 14th century, the familiar symbol of the heart representing love developed in the 15th century, and became popular in Europe during the 16th.<ref>Martin Kemp. (2011). "Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon", 1st ed. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|9780199581115}}, pp.368, p.96–99.</ref>

Before the 14th century, the heart shape was not associated with the meaning of the heart metaphor. The geometric shape itself is found in much earlier sources. However, in such instances it does not depict a heart, but typically foliage: in examples from antiquity [fig](/source/Common_fig) leaves, and in medieval iconography and heraldry, typically the leaves of [ivy](/source/Hedera) and of the [water-lily](/source/Nymphaeaceae).

The first known, but disputed, depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s. It occurs in a miniature decorating a capital 'S' in a manuscript of the French {{lang|fr|[Roman de la poire](/source/Roman_de_la_poire)}}.<ref>(National Library FR MS. 2086, plate 12)</ref> In the miniature, a kneeling lover (or more precisely, an allegory of the lover's "sweet gaze" or {{lang|fr|doux regard}}) offers his heart to a damsel. The heart here resembles a pine cone (held "upside down", the point facing upward), in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions. However, in this miniature, what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover's finger superimposed on an object; the full shape outline of the object is partly hidden, and, therefore unknown. Moreover, the French title of the manuscript that features the miniature translates into "Novel of the pear" in English. Thus the heart-shaped object would be a pear; the conclusion that a pear represents a heart is dubious, and opinions differ over this claimed depiction of a heart denoting romantic love.<ref name="Vinken 2001">Vinken (2001).</ref>

[Giotto](/source/Giotto) in his 1305 painting in the [Scrovegni Chapel](/source/Scrovegni_Chapel) ([Padua](/source/Padua)) shows an [allegory of charity](/source/Charity_(virtue)) (caritas) handing her heart to [Jesus Christ](/source/Jesus_Christ). This heart is also depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day (still held "upside down"). Giotto's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters, and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by [Taddeo Gaddi](/source/Taddeo_Gaddi) in [Santa Croce](/source/Santa_Croce%2C_Florence), by [Andrea Pisano](/source/Andrea_Pisano) on the bronze door of the south porch of the [Florence Baptistery](/source/Florence_Baptistery) ({{circa|1337}}), by [Ambrogio Lorenzetti](/source/Ambrogio_Lorenzetti) in the Palazzo Publico in Siena ({{circa|1340}}) and by [Andrea da Firenze](/source/Andrea_da_Firenze) in [Santa Maria Novella](/source/Santa_Maria_Novella) in Florence ({{circa|1365}}). The convention of showing the heart point upward switches in the late 14th century and becomes rare in the first half of the 15th century.<ref name="Vinken 2001"/>

The "scalloped" shape of the now-familiar heart symbol, with its sides concave toward its base, arises in the early 14th century, at first only lightly dented, as in the miniatures in [Francesco da Barberino](/source/Francesco_da_Barberino)'s {{lang|it|[Documenti d'amore](/source/c%3AFile%3ADocumenti_d'amore_(1640)_(14747564815).jpg)}} (before 1320). A slightly later example with a more pronounced dent is found in a manuscript from the [Cistercian](/source/Cistercians) monastery in Brussels.<ref>MS 4459–70, fol 192v. [Royal Library of Belgium](/source/Royal_Library_of_Belgium)</ref> The convention of showing a dent at the base of the heart thus spread at about the same time as the convention of showing the heart with its point downward.<ref>Vinken (2001): "The change from the spherical to the scalloped form of the heart base happened more or less in train with the differing way in which the heart was held, and has dominated visual representations of the heart ever since."</ref> The modern indented red heart has been used on [playing card](/source/playing_card)s since the late 15th century.<ref>A Brief History of Playing Cardes, by Charles Knutson, Renaissance Magazine 2001 {{cite web |url=http://www.renaissancemagazine.com/backissues/game.html |title=Gamester article renaissance magazine |access-date=2013-05-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220111738/http://renaissancemagazine.com/backissues/game.html |archive-date=2010-12-20 }}</ref>

Various hypotheses attempted to connect the "heart shape" as it evolved in the [Late Middle Ages](/source/Late_Middle_Ages) with instances of the geometric shape in antiquity.<ref name="mcdonell">{{Cite news |last=McDonell |first=Keelin |date=2007-02-13 |title=The Shape of My Heart |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/02/where-does-the-ubiquitous-valentine-s-heart-shape-come-from.html |access-date=2024-10-21 |work=[Slate](/source/Slate_(magazine)) |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339}}</ref> Such theories are modern, proposed from the 1960s onward, and they remain speculative, as no continuity between the supposed ancient predecessors and the late medieval tradition can be shown. Specific suggestions include the shape of the seed of the [silphium](/source/Silphium_(antiquity)) plant, used in ancient times as an [herbal contraceptive](/source/herbal_contraceptive),<ref name="mcdonell" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/sowing-the-seeds-of-love-20060212-ge1qsr.html|title=Sowing the seeds of love|first=Luke|last=Benedictus|date=12 February 2006|website=The Age}}</ref> or stylized depictions of [breasts](/source/breasts), [buttocks](/source/buttocks), or the [pubic mound](/source/mons_pubis) or spread [vulva](/source/vulva).<ref>Proposed by [Gloria Steinem](/source/Gloria_Steinem) in the 1998 introduction to the ''[Vagina Monologues](/source/Vagina_Monologues)'' [http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/random043/97029393.htm online copy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416184307/https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/random043/97029393.htm |date=2023-04-16 }}; "For example, the shape we call a heart—whose symmetry resembles the vulva far more than the asymmetry of the organ that shares its name—is probably a residual female genital symbol. It was reduced from power to romance by centuries of male dominance.", based on an earlier suggestion by Tanzer (1969) that the shape was used as a symbol indicating brothels in ancient Pompeii. Tanzer (1969). ''The Common People of Pompeii. A study of the graffiti. With illustrations and a map''</ref>

<gallery>
File:Roman de la poire heart metaphor.jpg|The earliest known possible visual depiction of a heart symbol, as a lover hands his heart to the beloved lady, in a manuscript of the {{lang|fr|[Roman de la poire](/source/Roman_de_la_poire)}}, 13th century
File:Giotto di Bondone - No. 45 The Seven Virtues - Charity - WGA09272.jpg|Giotto's allegory of charity handing her heart to Jesus Christ ({{c.|1305}})
File:Battistero di firenze, porta sud di andrea pisano 23 carità.JPG|Charity on the south doors of the Florence Baptistery ({{c.|1336}})
File:Othea's Epistle BnF Fr 606 f 6r.jpg|Modern-looking heart symbols are presented to Venus in an illumination by the [Master of the Epître d'Othéa](/source/Master_of_the_Ep%C3%AEtre_d'Oth%C3%A9a) ({{c.|1407}})
</gallery>

===Renaissance and early modern===
thumb|upright|A heart symbol from the Achaemenid period, in the Louvre Museum, made of ivory<ref>{{cite web | url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010182226 | title=Incrustation de meuble | date=539 }}</ref>
[[File:Sasanian textile with heart symbol.jpg|thumb|upright|A sasanian-style textile from first century AH that shows two [winged horses](/source/winged_horses)<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/73127077 | title=اسب های بالدار | journal=Bukhara 147 | date=January 2022 | last1=Daryaee | first1=Touraj }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/325650|title=Plate with youths and winged horses &#124; Sasanian &#124; Sasanian|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref> with one heart symbol on top of them<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iamm.org.my/galleries/textiles/ | title=Textile Gallery &#124; IAMM }}</ref>]]
Heart shapes can be seen on various [stucco](/source/stucco) reliefs and wall panels excavated from the ruins of [Ctesiphon](/source/Ctesiphon), the [Persian](/source/Sasanian_Empire) capital ({{circa|90 BC – 637 AD}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roundel with radiating palmettes {{!}} Sasanian {{!}} Sasanian |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/view?exhibitionId=%7B60853040-AE7E-4162-8FA7-525505D6B633%7D&oid=322631 |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref><ref>Fragments of stucco roundels in situ, Taq-i Kisra, south building, Ctesiphon, Iraq, 1931–32. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2015, from http://www.metmuseum.org/met-around-the-world/images/wb_large/wb_Ctesiphon2.jpg</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wall panel with a bird in roundel {{!}} Sasanian {{!}} Sasanian |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/322640 |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>

The [Luther rose](/source/Luther_rose) was the [seal](/source/Seal_(emblem)) that was designed for [Martin Luther](/source/Martin_Luther) at the behest of Prince [John Frederick](/source/John_Frederick_I%2C_Elector_of_Saxony), in 1530, while Luther was staying at the [Coburg](/source/Coburg) Fortress during the [Diet of Augsburg](/source/Diet_of_Augsburg). Luther wrote an explanation of the symbol to [Lazarus Spengler](/source/Lazarus_Spengler): "a black cross in a heart, which retains its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us. 'For one who believes from the heart will be justified' ([Romans](/source/Epistle_to_the_Romans) 10:10)."<ref>[http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Playing%20Cards/decks/france/index.html gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061010201917/http://gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Playing%20Cards/decks/france/index.html |date=2006-10-10 }}, [http://i-p-c-s.org/faq/history_6.php i-p-c-s.org] {{cite web |url=http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/p-11469.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927130238/http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/p-11469.jpg |archive-date=2013-09-27 }} [http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/a-history-of-wood-engraving.htm antiquemapsandprints.com], obviously more research is needed here.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2013}}

The [aorta](/source/aorta) remains visible, as a protrusion at the top centered between the two "chambers" indicated in the symbol, in some depictions of the Sacred Heart well into the 18th century, and is partly still shown today (although mostly obscured by elements such as a crown, flames, rays, or a cross) but the "hearts" suit did not have this element since the 15th century.

<gallery>
File:CordierColor.jpg|The chanson ''Belle, Bonne, Sage'' by [Baude Cordier](/source/Baude_Cordier), written in the shape of a heart, in the [Chantilly Codex](/source/Chantilly_Codex). This is one of two dedicatory pieces placed<!--presumably in the mid-15th century -- would still be our earliest example of a "romantic" heart shape--> at the beginning of the older (late 14th century) corpus, probably to replace the original first fascicle, which is missing.
File:Sacré-Coeur Köln.jpg|Early depiction of the Heart of Jesus in the context of the [Five Wounds](/source/Five_Wounds) (the wounded heart here depicting Christ's wound inflicted by the [Lance of Longinus](/source/Lance_of_Longinus)) in a 15th-century manuscript<ref>Cologne Mn Kn 28-1181 fol. 116</ref>
File:Waldburg-Gebetbuch 023 detail.jpg|1486 depiction of the Five Wounds
File:Petit Livre d'Amour 6r.jpg|Miniature from the {{lang|fr|[Petit Livre d'Amour](/source/Petit_Livre_d'Amour)}} ({{circa|1500}}), showing the author {{Interlanguage link|Pierre Sala|fr}} depositing his heart in a marguerite flower (symbolizing his mistress, who was called Marguerite). Also worth mentioning is the miniature on fol. 13r,<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_955_f013r fol. 13r]</ref> showing two women catching winged hearts in a net.
File:Fotothek df tg 0004102 Wappen ^ Siegel ^ Lutherwappen ^ Lutherrose ^ Reformation.jpg|The [Luther rose](/source/Luther_rose), 1706 print after the 1530 design
File:1545GermanCardDeck.jpg|Hearts suit in a 1540s German deck of playing cards
File:Hjertebogen.jpg|The Danish "[Heart Book](/source/Heart_Book)", a heart-shaped manuscript of love ballads from the 1550s
File:Champaigne, Philippe de - Saint Augustin - 1645-1650.jpg|[Augustine of Hippo](/source/Augustine_of_Hippo) holding a heart in his hand which is set alight by a ray emanating from divine Truth (''Veritas''), painting by [Philippe de Champaigne](/source/Philippe_de_Champaigne), {{circa|1650}}
File:Robert la Longe - Ranjeno srce Jezusovo.jpg|Allegorical painting of the [Sacred Heart of Jesus](/source/Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus). The central heart radiates hearts gathered up by [Putti](/source/Putto). By Robert la Longe, {{circa|1705}}.
File:Bleiernes Herz Christoph-Otto von Velen.jpg|Leaden heart of [Raesfeld](/source/Raesfeld) chapel (funerary casket containing the heart of Christoph Otto von Velen, d. 1733)
File:Mus%C3%A9e_Boyadjian_MRAH_20_11_2011_Sacr%C3%A9_Coeur_M_Alacoque.jpg|18th-century depiction of the Sacred Heart from the vision of [Marguerite Marie Alacoque](/source/Marguerite_Marie_Alacoque) (d. 1690). The heart is both "heart-shaped" and drawn anatomically correct, with both the [aorta](/source/aorta) and the [pulmonary artery](/source/pulmonary_artery) visible, and with the crucifix placed inside the aorta.
File:Sacred Heart 1770.jpg|Another anatomically correct Sacred Heart, painted in {{circa|1770}} by [José de Páez](/source/Jos%C3%A9_de_P%C3%A1ez)
</gallery>

===Modern===
Since the 19th century, the symbol has often been used on [Valentine's Day](/source/Valentine's_Day) [cards](/source/greeting_card), [candy](/source/candy) boxes, and similar [popular culture](/source/popular_culture) artifacts as a symbol of [romantic love](/source/romantic_love).

The use of the heart symbol as a [logograph](/source/logograph) for the English verb "to love" derives from the use in "[I ♥ NY](/source/I_%E2%99%A5_NY)," introduced by the designer [Mary Wells Lawrence](/source/Mary_Wells_Lawrence) in 1977.<ref>"Subsequently the heart symbol became a shorthand for enthusiasm for everything from software to Yorkshire terriers. It was a stamp that validated lifestyles. People could ♥ their grandchildren or line dancing or Buddha." Stephen Amidon, Thomas Amidon, ''The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart'' (2011), p. 193.</ref>

[Outdoor toilets](/source/Outhouse) in Scandinavia traditionally had a heart shaped ventilation hole. In homes a heart symbol made from red painted plywood, or a stuffed fabric one, is often used to assist visitors in finding the modern facility. For image see: [Hjerte (symbol)](/source/%3Ano%3AHjerte_(symbol))

Heart symbols are frequently used to symbolize ["health" or "lives"](/source/Health_(gaming)) in [video game](/source/video_game)s. [The Legend of Zelda](/source/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(video_game)) (1986) had a "life bar" composed of heart shapes, and many other games continued this convention (the ''[Castlevania](/source/Castlevania)'' franchise being a notable exception, where the hearts are ammunition for the secondary weapons instead of representing health). Since the 1990s, the heart symbol has also been used as an ideogram indicating health outside of the video gaming context, e.g., its use by restaurants to indicate heart-healthy nutrient content claim (e.g., "low in [cholesterol](/source/cholesterol)"). A copyrighted "heart-check" symbol to indicate heart-healthy food was introduced by the [American Heart Association](/source/American_Heart_Association) in 1995.<ref>"the heart-check mark that began to appear on a wide array of food packaging in 1995. The symbol consists of a heart branded with a bold, efficient check mark. It is copyrighted by the American Heart Association (AHA), which licenses it for a nominal fee to companies whose products meet the organization's criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol content." Stephen Amidon, Thomas Amidon, ''The Sublime Engine: A Biography of the Human Heart'' (2011), p. 193.</ref>

<gallery>
File:A Map of Womans Heart.jpg|A heart-shaped "Map of Woman's Heart" (1830s)
File:Victorian Valentine GT Little.jpg|Two burning hearts, coloured pink, illustration on a Victorian-era [Valentine's Day](/source/Valentine's_Day) card
File:Wounded Heart Vinegar Valentine 1870s.jpg|A "[Vinegar Valentine](/source/Vinegar_Valentine)" card from the 1870s, with a red heart symbol pierced by six arrows
File:BigPinkHeart.jpg|The traditional "heart shape" appears on a 1910 Valentine's Day card.
File:Look in His Eyes cover.jpg|Sheet music cover of "Look in His Eyes", from the musical ''Have a Heart'' (1913)
File:Magazine advertisement for The Orderly (1921).jpg|Magazine advertisement for the silent film ''The Orderly'' (1921)
File:Wedding_ring_with_heart_shadow.jpg|Wedding rings of a groom and bride with shadow in the form of a heart
</gallery>

==Heraldry==
{{Hatnote|"Heart field" or "heart shield" are terms for an [inescutcheon](/source/inescutcheon) placed ''en surtout''.}}
[[File:COA family de Fürsten von Lüneburg.svg|thumb|upright|Coat of arms of the [Principality of Lüneburg](/source/Principality_of_L%C3%BCneburg), originating with [William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg](/source/William_of_Winchester%2C_Lord_of_L%C3%BCneburg) (d. 1213) who married [Helena](/source/Helena_of_Denmark), daughter of [Valdemar I of Denmark](/source/Valdemar_I_of_Denmark), and therefore adopted the "Danish tincture" to the arms of his father, [Henry the Lion](/source/Henry_the_Lion)<ref>C. Weyers in: Stengel (ed.), ''Archiv für Diplomatik: Schriftgeschichte, Siegel, und Wappenkunde'', Volume 54, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jNPEDfce9fgC&pg=PA100 p. 100].</ref>]]
[[File:Laukaa.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|A heart pictured in the coat of arms of the [Laukaa municipality](/source/Laukaa)]]

The earliest heart-shaped charges in heraldry appear in the 12th century; the hearts in the [coat of arms of Denmark](/source/coat_of_arms_of_Denmark) go back to the royal banner of the [kings of Denmark](/source/kings_of_Denmark), in turn based on a seal used as early as the 1190s. However, while the charges are clearly heart-shaped, they did not depict hearts in origin, or symbolize any idea related to love. Instead, they are assumed to have depicted the leaves of the [water-lily](/source/Nymphaeaceae).{{Citation Needed|date= March 2025}} Early heraldic heart-shaped charges depicting the leaves of water-lilies are found in various other designs related to territories close to rivers or a coastline (''e.g.'' [Flags of Frisia](/source/Flags_of_Frisia)).

Inverted heart symbols have been used in heraldry as stylized [testicle](/source/testicle)s (''coglioni'' in Italian) as in the [canting arms](/source/canting_arms) of the [Colleoni](/source/Colleoni) family of Milan.<ref name="Woodward">Woodward, John and George Burnett (1969). ''Woodward's a treatise on heraldry, British and foreign'', [https://archive.org/stream/treatiseonherald00wooduoft#page/202/mode/2up page 203]. Originally published 1892, Edinburgh: W. & A. B. Johnson. {{ISBN|0-7153-4464-1}}. {{LCCN|02020303}}</ref>

A seal attributed to [William, Lord of Douglas](/source/William_IV%2C_Lord_of_Douglas) (of 1333) shows a heart shape, identified as the heart of [Robert the Bruce](/source/Robert_the_Bruce). The authenticity of this seal is "very questionable",<ref>McAndrew, ''Scotland's Historic Heraldry'', 2006, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QFkI3G31HTMC&pg=PA141 p. 141]</ref> i.e. it could possibly date to the late 14th or even the 15th century.<ref>McAndrew 2006, p. 213.</ref>

Heraldic charges actually representing hearts became more common in the [early modern period](/source/early_modern_period), with the [Sacred Heart](/source/Sacred_Heart) depicted in [ecclesiastical heraldry](/source/ecclesiastical_heraldry), and hearts representing love appearing in bourgeois coats of arms. Hearts also later became popular elements in municipal coats of arms.

==Botanical symbolism==
{{Main|Silphium (antiquity)}}

There has been some conjecture regarding the link between the traditional heart symbol and images of the fruit of silphium, a (probably) extinct plant known to [classical antiquity](/source/classical_antiquity) and belonging to the genus ''[Ferula](/source/Ferula)'', used as a condiment and medicine, (the medicinal properties including [contraceptive](/source/contraceptive) and [abortifacient](/source/abortifacient) activity, linking the plant to sexuality and love).<ref>Favorito, E. N.; Baty, K. (February 1995). "The Silphium Connection". Celator. 9 (2): 6–8.</ref> Silver coins from the ancient Libya of the 6th to 5th centuries BC bear images strongly reminiscent of the heart symbol, sometimes accompanied by images of the silphium plant.<ref>T. V. Buttrey, "The Coins and the Cult", Expedition magazine vol. 34, Nos. 1–2 "Special Issue: Gifts to the Goddesses—Cyrene's Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone", Spring–Summer 1992.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Koerper |first1=H. |last2=Kolls |first2=A. L. |title=The silphium motif adorning ancient libyan coinage: Marketing a medicinal plant |journal=Economic Botany |date=1999 |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=133–143 |doi=10.1007/BF02866492 |jstor=4256173|s2cid=32144481 }}</ref> The related ''Ferula'' species [asafoetida](/source/asafoetida) – which was actually used as an inferior substitute for silphium – is regarded as an [aphrodisiac](/source/aphrodisiac) in [Tibet](/source/Tibet) and [India](/source/India), suggesting yet a third amatory association relating to silphium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thepoisondiaries.tumblr.com/post/42771270639/aphrodisiac-asafoetida-ferula-asa-foetida|title=Aphrodisiac - Asafoetida (Ferula asa foetida)}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Cyrenecoin.jpg|Ancient silver coin from [Cyrene, Libya](/source/Cyrene%2C_Libya) depicting the heart-shaped "seed" (actually fruit) of silphium
File:Illustration Heracleum sphondylium0.jpg|Example of a heart-shaped [mericarp](/source/Schizocarp) fruit in a plant (''[Heracleum sphondylium](/source/Heracleum_sphondylium)'') belonging, like the unidentified silphium, to the parsley family, [Apiaceae](/source/Apiaceae)
File:Ferula assa-foetida - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-061.jpg|''[Ferula assa-foetida](/source/Ferula_assa-foetida)'': a species of giant fennel belonging to the same genus as the ancient silphium and regarded as having similar properties, while being an inferior substitute for the plant
File:Ferula tingitana.jpg|''[Ferula tingitana](/source/Ferula_tingitana)'': a possible identity for silphium
</gallery>

== Encoding ==

{{Main|Hearts in Unicode}}

==Parametrisation==
A number of [parametrisation](/source/parametrization_(geometry))s of approximately heart-shaped [curves](/source/mathematical_curve) have been described.
The best-known of these is the [cardioid](/source/cardioid), which is an [epicycloid](/source/epicycloid) with one [cusp](/source/Cusp_(singularity)),<ref>[Weisstein, Eric W.](/source/Eric_W._Weisstein), "[http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cardioid.html Cardioid]" from [MathWorld](/source/MathWorld).</ref> though, as the cardioid lacks the point, it may be seen as a stylized water-lily leaf, a so-called [seeblatt](/source/seeblatt), rather than a heart. Other curves, such as the [implicit curve](/source/Level_set) (x<sup>2</sup>+y<sup>2</sup>−1)<sup>3</sup>−x<sup>2</sup>y<sup>3</sup>=0, may produce better approximations of the heart shape.<ref>[Eric W. Weisstein](/source/Eric_W._Weisstein), [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/HeartCurve.html "Heart Curve."] From [MathWorld](/source/MathWorld)</ref>
{{Multiple image
| align             = left
| image1            = Cardiod animation.gif
| width1            = 200
| caption1          = A cardioid generated by a rolling circle<br />(animated)
| image2            = Heart plot.svg
| width2            = 268
| caption2          = Implicit heart curve<br />(x<sup>2</sup> + y<sup>2</sup> − 1)<sup>3</sup> − x<sup>2</sup>y<sup>3</sup> = 0
| image3            = GJL-fft-herz.svg
| width3            = 224
| caption3          = Parametric plot of the curve<br /><br /><math>\textstyle\binom{16\sin^{\scriptscriptstyle 3}t}{13\cos{}t-5\cos2t-2\cos3t-\cos4t}</math>
}}

{{Multiple image
| align             = left
| image1            = Heart3D.png
| width1            = 400
| caption1          = Implicit heart surface
| image2            = Simple 4-quadrant heart curve.svg
| width2            = 220
| caption2          = Simple form made from two perpendicular lines and two circular arcs
}}

{{clear}}
<gallery>
File:Heart-on-ti89-draw.jpg|Heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator
File:Heart-on-ti89-parametric.jpg|Parametric equation of heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [Cordata](/source/Cordata_(disambiguation)), [Cordatum](/source/Cordatum) and [Cordatus](/source/%3Awikt%3Acordatus), Latin adjectives meaning ''heart-shaped''
* [Hand heart](/source/Hand_heart)
* [Heart in hand](/source/Heart_in_hand)
* [Passion (emotion)](/source/Passion_(emotion)), or passionate love
* [Seeblatt](/source/Seeblatt), a symbol of a water lily leaf that resembles a heart

== References ==
===Inline citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===
* Martin Kemp, "The Heart" in ''Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon'', Oxford University Press, 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tLCNfSPzO-8C&pg=PA81 81–113].
* {{citation | year=2000 | title=The Shape of the Heart: A Contribution to the Iconology of the Heart | author1=P. J. Vinken | edition=illustrated | publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences | isbn=978-0-444-82987-0 }}

===General references===
* {{citation | title=How the heart was held in medieval art | year=2001 | author=Vinken, P | journal=The Lancet | volume=358 | issue=9299 | pages=2155–2157 | pmid=11784647 | doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07224-5 | s2cid=37917232 | doi-access=free }}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q826930|q=Heart|wikt=Appendix:Unicode/Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs|s=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|c=Category:Heart symbols|species=no|n=no|b=no}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart}}
Category:15th-century introductions
Category:Heart symbols
Category:Heraldic charges
Category:Late Middle Ages
Category:Pictograms
Category:Romance
Category:Symbols
Category:Love

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Heart symbol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_symbol) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_symbol?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.