Hardy and Hearty

The words hardy and hearty are near-homophones: they sound similar but have different meanings.

Definitions

The adjective hardy (related to hard) means daring, courageous, and capable of surviving difficult conditions.

The adjective hearty (related to heart) means showing warm and heartfelt affection or providing abundant nourishment.

Examples

• The miniature rose may look delicate, but it is an exceptionally hardy flower.
• "We would settle on the hard cool flat stretch of beach between the icy blue sea, which invited only the fanatically hardy in for more than a dip, and the loose white sand beyond the high-tide mark, which burned your feet if you did not step quickly."
  (John Updike, Self-Consciousness. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)
• "Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors. It enhances respiration. It is an igniter of great expectations."
  (Norman Cousins)
• "Her words may have sounded cold and clinical, but she wasn't a cold person. Sue Lowell was a tall, thick woman with closely cropped black hair and a penchant for glittery dangling earrings. She had a warm, hearty disposition and possessed an admirable degree of patience."
  (Carol Miller, Murder and Moonshine. Minotaur, 2013)

Idiom Alert

The expression hale and hearty means healthy and strong, often used in reference to an old person.
- "Alex Corcoran, the president, is really only chief of sales—a big, hale-and-hearty fellow whose mind is permanently stuck on golf. In fact, he's playing in some tournament over at the Southworth Country Club this afternoon."
(Gregory Mcdonald, Fletch and the Widow Bradley, 1981)
- "During World War II the armed services drew the town's youth, black and white, and Northern war plants lured the remaining hale and hearty."
(Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name, 1974)
"This redundant expression, since both hale and hearty here mean 'healthy,' probably survives owing to its pleasing alliteration."-- The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary, 2002

Practice

(a) On the first day of class, the instructor greeted the students with a _____ welcome to college.
(b) The senator has shown herself to be a _____ politician, one who has survived by swinging between political parties.

Answers to Practice Exercises: Hardy and Hearty

(a) On the first day of class, the instructor greeted the students with a hearty welcome to college.
(b) The senator has shown herself to be a hardy politician, one who has survived by swinging between political parties.