Herz

See also: herz

German

Alternative forms

Herze, Hertz (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle High German herze, from Old High German herza, from Proto-Germanic *hertô (“heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr (“heart”). Cognate with Dutch hart, English heart, Danish hjerte, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐍉 (hairtō).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /hɛʁts/, [hɛʁts], [hɛɐ̯ts]
audio (Germany) (file)
audio (Austria) (file)
Homophone: Hertz

Noun

Herz n (genitive Herzens, plural Herzen, diminutive Herzchen n or Herzlein n)

Usage notes

Herz has irregular singular declension and is the only noun of its kind.

The genitive singular takes the ending -ens: des Herzens. The form des Herzes is very rare and generally considered nonstandard.
The dative singular traditionally takes -en: dem Herzen. This form is still the only accepted standard form in many—more or less fixed—expressions, such as im Herzen, von Herzen, zu Herzen, Operation am offenen Herzen (“open-heart surgery”), mit halbem Herzen (“half-heartedly”), and others.

Only the bare form dem Herz is common when referring to a card suit, as a term of endearment, and in the phrase mit Herz (“good-hearted”)

Otherwise, the forms dem Herzen and dem Herz are both acceptable. The latter is predominant in speech, while the former remains the more established form in writing.

Declension

Declension of Herz

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Herz	die	Herzen
genitive	eines	des	Herzens	der	Herzen
dative	einem	dem	Herzen, Herz	den	Herzen
accusative	ein	das	Herz	die	Herzen