hefty

Etymology

It is formed from English heft (“weight, heaviness”) + -y,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} originally in American and dialect use.^[7][8] The noun heft is from English heave, apparently on the pattern of weave and weft or thieve and theft, and influenced by the old past participle heft, heaved;^[2][4][3] the OED thinks it was also associated with heavy.^[2] Weekley explained the American adjective as "easy to lift", from heft in the sense to lift, and thought its sense was also affected by German heftig (“violent”);^[9] the OED compares the German word for the dialect sense "violent",^[2] and Wright compared it and Dutch heftig (“vehement”) for the East Anglian hefty weather.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Heavy, weighty: 1863 in Merriam-Webster,^[6] 1866 in Etymonline,^[3] and 1867 in the OED and Barnhart, whose first quotation is from F. H. Ludlow's Little Brother.^[2][4] Dictionary.com dates it to 1865–70.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first sense joins the literal "weighty, heavy" to "hard, grievous" and to "large or significant in size", and the word was also used as an adverb, powerfully or exceedingly.^[2] It soon described people too, for brawny and strong,^[5][6] and blows, for powerful,^[6][12] and large sums, as in a hefty bill or bonus.^[12][13] In American use it could also mean, from 1885, easy to lift or handle,^[2] and in dialect from 1886 violent;^[2] in East Anglia hefty weather was rough and stormy.^[10]

Timeline

• 1863 – having considerable weight, heavy.^[6] The OED's first record is from 1867.^[2][4]
• 1885 – easy to lift or handle (American).^[2]
• 1886 – violent (dialect).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of considerable weight; heavy: a hefty dictionary.^[13][6][12]
2. Big and strong; burly or muscular: a hefty rugby player.^[13][12][6]
3. Done with great force or vigour: He gave the door a hefty kick.^[12][6]
4. Large in size or amount; substantial, especially of money: a hefty fine for parking illegally.^[13][12][6]

Word family

• heftily
• heftiness

Related words

• heft
• heave
• heavy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt