Heart in Elvish — Hón, Órë and Hondo in Quenya, Gûr in Sindarin

Quick Answer: Elvish has no single word for heart. In Quenya, hón is the physical heart and órë is the heart as inner mind or feeling; hondo is the metaphorical heart, the seat of deepest feelings. In Sindarin, hûn is the physical heart and gûr is heart or spirit. Pick the word that matches what you mean.

English uses one word for the organ in your chest and for love, courage, grief and conscience. Tolkien's Elvish does not. A learner who asks for "heart in Elvish" gets several answers, and each one means something slightly different. This guide sorts them out: the body words, the inner-self words, the compounds that really exist, how to say them, and what you can and cannot safely write on a gift, a ring or a tattoo. For the wider emotional vocabulary, see Elvish words for emotions.

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The Heart Words at a Glance

The abbreviations are Tolkien's published sources: Etymologies is in The Lost Road, PE is Parma Eldalamberon, VT is Vinyar Tengwar, CPT is Comparative Phonology Tables, NM is The Nature of Middle-earth, SD is Sauron Defeated. Several of the entries come from Eldamo, the scholarly lexicon of Tolkien's Elvish, which marks forms it deduced rather than found. We give the glosses as recorded.

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Two Kinds of Heart in Quenya

Quenya separates the body from the self. Our vocabulary database, which cites Parma Eldalamberon 17, makes the contrast explicit: órë is "the innermost feeling," and it is "different from hón," the physical heart. That one distinction answers most "which word?" questions.

Hón: the physical heart

Hón is built on the root KHO-N in the Etymologies. It is the organ: the thing that beats, the thing a warrior is struck through. It is a short, heavy word with a long vowel, so it is not the word you would pick for tenderness. You would use it for anatomy, or for a pointed play on the literal.

Pronunciation: HOHN. The accent on ó marks a long vowel, as in "more." One syllable, so the stress is not in question.

Órë: the inner mind and feeling

Órë is the heart as the seat of what a person truly thinks and feels. Our database gives "Heart / Inner mind." It is the word that fits sincerity, conscience and settled intention, rather than a sudden emotion.

Pronunciation: OH-reh. Two syllables, so the first is stressed (Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings), and the ó is long. The final ë is a real vowel, pronounced "eh," and the diaeresis is there only to show it is not silent, as final e is in English.

Hondo: the metaphorical heart

Hondo is glossed "[metaphorical] heart, (seat of the) deepest feelings," attested in Comparative Phonology Tables and The Nature of Middle-earth. Notice that it looks like hón with an ending. It looks related, but we do not claim a derivation here. If órë is the quiet inner mind, hondo is the heart of "deepest feelings" in the poetic sense.

Pronunciation: HON-do. First syllable stressed; the o is short here because there is no accent mark.

Enda: heart as centre

Enda is glossed "heart; centre," attested in Vinyar Tengwar 39. Its sibling endë means "centre, middle." Here the English "heart" is a spatial image, the heart of a forest or the heart of a city, not a feeling. The Sindarin counterpart of the centre sense is enedh, "centre, middle," from Unfinished Tales and the Etymologies. If you want "the heart of the matter," these are the roots to look at, not órë.

Pronunciation: EN-da and EN-deh. Both are disyllables, so the stress falls on the first syllable.

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Two Kinds of Heart in Sindarin

Sindarin keeps two words that echo the Quenya ones, and the same body-versus-self logic applies.

Hûn: the physical heart

Hûn is the Sindarin organ, attested in Parma Eldalamberon 17. The circumflex marks a long vowel. It matches Quenya hón in meaning, and the two words look and sound alike.

Pronunciation: HOON. The circumflex û is the long "oo" of "moon."

Gûr: heart and spirit

Gûr is glossed "Heart / Spirit" in our data, citing Parma Eldalamberon 17. It is the Sindarin word for the heart as the centre of a person, and it is the one you will see in a name or a motto more than hûn. It is closer in function to Quenya órë than to hón.

Pronunciation: GOOR. Long û, one syllable.

Guren: my heart

Our vocabulary notes record guren as "my heart," built from gûr plus a possessive ending. The same source also gives the fragment guren bed enni, cited to Parma Eldalamberon 17. We do not offer an English translation of that fragment, because our data does not give one and we will not guess. What you can safely take from it is the form guren for "my heart" in Sindarin.

Pronunciation: GOO-ren. Disyllable, first syllable stressed, and the u is short once the circumflex is gone.

A warning for learners: an older lesson draft once taught guren as "longing." It does not mean that. It means "my heart," and Sindarin longing is a different word. The error is recorded in our own lesson notes as a correction.

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A Cautionary Pair: Hú and Hû

Two short entries look tempting and should be avoided. Quenya hú and Sindarin hû are both glossed "hound (or ?heart)." The question mark is Eldamo's: the sense "hound" is the sure one, and "heart" is a doubtful alternative. Do not use either as "heart." A tattoo that says hû is, on the evidence, a dog.

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Compounds and Names That Really Exist

Quenya is generous with words that contain "heart" as an element. These are the attested ones in our database.

• honda, "hearted." Eldamo deduced this form from compounds, and it is the root of the others below. On its own it is an adjective, not a noun.
• hondoringa, "cold-hearted." From Comparative Phonology Tables. The second half is ringa, "cold."
• ondórëa, "hard-hearted, pitiless," from The Nature of Middle-earth. The ond- part is the Quenya for stone, and the ending contains órë, so the picture is literally "stone-hearted."
• sincahonda, "flint-hearted." Attested in The Lord of the Rings, The Nature of Middle-earth and Sauron Defeated. Sinca is flint.

These words give you a pattern: a quality word, then hond- or -órë, then an adjective ending. They are all negative or hard in meaning in the material we have. That is worth knowing before you go looking for a warm, ready-made compound for a gift. We found no attested "kind-hearted" or "brave-hearted" in our data, and we will not coin one here. For the Neo-Elvish route, see the tattoo section below.

For names, be careful. Many online name lists claim a name "means heart" without a source. We do not list one, because none of the entries above is a personal name in our data. If a site offers you an Elvish name meaning "heart," ask for the primary source, and compare it with our guide to Elvish names and their meanings.

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Which Word for Which Meaning?

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Heart and Love Are Different Words

One more mix-up is worth clearing up. The heart words above do not mean love. Love has its own root, MEL, which gives Quenya mel-, "to love," and melda, "dear, beloved," and Sindarin meleth, "love" (noun). Sindarin mellon, "friend," belongs to the same family. Our full guide to the love vocabulary is Elvish words for love, and the question every couple asks is answered in how to say I love you in Elvish. The short version: the famous film line Meleth nín, "my love," is film Sindarin by David Salo, not Tolkien's own text. Elvish does not turn the heart into a metaphor for love in any attested sentence we can cite.

Grief and loss have their own vocabulary too. If you are writing a memorial, start with Elvish words for heartbreak and loss rather than the heart words here.

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Writing the Heart Words in Tengwar

Tengwar is a script, so it writes sounds, not meanings. The same letter shapes can spell hón in Quenya or hûn in Sindarin, because the two words differ only in the vowel. Which vowel mark you use depends on the mode. Long vowels are shown by a lengthening mark in most modes, and the h in these words is written with the rune for the breath sound. Because conventions differ between modes, run the word through our Tengwar name tool and compare the result with a second source. The reading and writing guide explains the modes in detail.

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Tattoo and Gift Guidance

People ask for "my heart" tattoos more often than almost any other phrase. Here is what is safe.

• Use a bare word. Gûr or órë is attested. A single word is the safest choice for skin.
• Choose one language. Do not mix Quenya órë with Sindarin nín. The possessive in Quenya is a different ending, and Sindarin nín must never sit inside a Quenya phrase.
• Keep the accents. Gûr without its circumflex is a different spelling, and hón without the acute reads as a short vowel.
• Pick the meaning first. A memorial for a warm-hearted parent wants the inner-self words, órë or gûr, not the organ word hón and not the harsh compounds.
• "My heart is yours" is not attested. Neither is "heart of a lion," "brave heart" or any other English idiom. Tolkien left us the words, not the sentences. If you build one yourself it is Neo-Elvish: a fan reconstruction, valid as a creative choice but not as a quotation. Label it that way if you give it as a gift.
• Avoid hû and hú. As covered above, they are probably "hound."

Our Elvish translator shows which parts of a phrase are attested, and the Elvish tattoo guide goes through the common pitfalls with real examples. For deciding between the two languages, read Quenya vs Sindarin.

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Pronunciation Summary

Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings gives the rules we used. In a word of two syllables the stress falls on the first. In a longer word the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong, or if it is followed by two consonants; otherwise it falls on the syllable before that. A circumflex or acute accent marks a long vowel.

The c in Tolkien's Elvish is always a hard "k," so sincahonda is "sin-ka-HON-da," never with an s sound. Our pronunciation guide covers all the vowel and consonant values.

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People Also Ask

What is the Elvish word for heart? There is no single word. Quenya uses hón for the physical heart and órë for the heart as inner mind or feeling; hondo is the metaphorical heart. Sindarin uses hûn for the physical heart and gûr for heart or spirit.

What is the difference between hón and órë? Hón (Quenya) is the physical heart, the organ. Órë is the innermost feeling, the inner mind. Our vocabulary data, citing Parma Eldalamberon 17, keeps them apart in exactly this way.

How do you say my heart in Elvish? Sindarin guren is recorded as my heart, from gûr plus a possessive ending. Full sentences such as my heart is yours are not attested in Tolkien and would be Neo-Elvish reconstructions.

Is Gûr or Órë better for a tattoo? Both are attested. Gûr suits the heart as spirit in Sindarin; órë suits the inner feeling in Quenya. Choose one language, use the bare word, and verify the Tengwar spelling before inking.

Does Elvish have words with heart in compounds? Yes. Quenya has hondoringa, cold-hearted, ondórëa, hard-hearted or pitiless, and sincahonda, flint-hearted. Honda alone means hearted.

Related Reading

• Elvish Words for Love — Quenya and Sindarin
• How to Say I Love You in Elvish
• Elvish Words for Heartbreak and Loss
• Elvish Words for Emotions
• Elvish Word for Friend
• Elvish Word for Life
• Elvish Names and Their Meanings
• Elvish Tattoo Ideas — Phrases with Translations and Tengwar Script

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