Heart (symbol) Facts for Kids

The heart symbol is a well-known shape. It is used to show affection or love, especially romantic love. When you see a heart symbol that looks wounded, like it's pierced with an arrow or broken, it means someone is feeling lovesickness or sadness because of love.

The Heart Symbol: What It Means
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The Heart Symbol: What It Means

The heart symbol is one of the most recognized shapes in the world. It stands for feelings like love, passion, and friendship. People use it on cards, gifts, and messages to show they care.

Why a Heart Shape?

The symbol we use today doesn't look exactly like a real human heart. It's thought that the shape might have come from different ideas over time. Some believe it could be inspired by the shape of certain leaves, like ivy, or even the shape of the human heart as people imagined it long ago.

Heart Symbols in History

The heart symbol has been around for a very long time.

Early Uses of the Heart Symbol

In ancient times, symbols that looked like hearts were sometimes used in art. For example, some ancient coins from a place called Cyrene, Libya showed a heart-shaped seed from a plant called silphium. This plant was important to them.
One of the earliest known times the heart symbol was used to mean love was in the 13th century. In a French story called the Roman de la poire, a lover gives his heart to a lady. This was shown in a picture, which might be the first time we see the symbol used this way.

Hearts in Art and Religion

During the Middle Ages, artists started using the heart symbol more often. You can see it in paintings and sculptures.
For example, in the 14th century, the artist Giotto showed a figure of Charity giving her heart to Jesus. This showed how love and kindness were important.
The heart also became important in religious art, especially for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This symbol often shows a heart with flames or a cross, representing divine love.

Hearts in Everyday Life

By the 15th and 16th centuries, the heart symbol became even more popular. It appeared in books, on playing cards, and in special love letters.
The famous Luther rose, designed in 1530, includes a black cross inside a red heart, showing faith and love.
The Danish "Heart Book" from the 1550s was a collection of love songs written in a heart-shaped book!

Hearts in Modern Times

Today, the heart symbol is everywhere.

It's a main part of Valentine's Day cards and decorations.
It's used in emojis and digital messages to quickly show feelings.
Wedding rings often have heart shapes or are exchanged as a symbol of love.

The heart symbol continues to be a powerful way to express love, friendship, and care across cultures and generations.

Images for kids

A heart symbol from the Achaemenid period, in the Louvre Museum, made of ivory.
A sasanian-style textile from first century AH that shows two winged horses with one heart symbol top of them.
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 Roman de la poire, 13th century.
Giotto's allegory of charity handing her heart to Jesus Christ (c. 1305)
Charity on the south doors of the Florence Baptistery (c. 1336)
The chanson Belle, Bonne, Sage by Baude Cordier, written in the shape of a heart, in the Chantilly Codex. This is one of two dedicatory pieces placed at the beginning of the older (late 14th century) corpus, probably to replace the original first fascicle, which is missing.
Early depiction of the Heart of Jesus in the context of the Five Wounds (the wounded heart here depicting Christ's wound inflicted by the Lance of Longinus) in a 15th century manuscript.
1486 depiction of the Five Wounds
Miniature from the Petit Livre d'Amour (c. 1500), showing the author 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, showing two women catching winged hearts in a net.
The Luther rose, 1706 print after the 1530 design.
Hearts suit in a 1540s German deck of playing cards
The Danish "Heart Book", a heart-shaped manuscript of love ballads from the 1550s.
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, c. 1650.
Allegorical painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central heart radiates hearts gathered up by Putti. By Robert la Longe, c. 1705.
Leaden heart of Raesfeld chapel (funerary casket containing the heart of Christoph Otto von Velen, d. 1733)
18th-century depiction of the Sacred Heart from the vision of Marguerite Marie Alacoque (d. 1690). The heart is both "heart shaped" and drawn anatomically correct, with both the aorta and the pulmonary artery visible, with the crucifix placed inside the aorta.
Another anatomically correct Sacred Heart, painted in c. 1770 by José de Páez.
A heart-shaped "Map of Woman's Heart" (1830s)
Two burning hearts, coloured pink, illustration on a Victorian-era Valentine's Day card.
A "Vinegar Valentine" card from the 1870s, with a red heart symbol pierced by six arrows.
The traditional "heart shape" appears on a 1910 Valentine's Day card.
Sheet music cover of "Look in His Eyes", from the musical Have a Heart (1913).
Magazine advertisement for the silent film The Orderly (1921).
Wedding rings of a groom and bride with shadow in form of heart - symbolic of love.
Ancient silver coin from Cyrene, Libya depicting the heart-shaped 'seed' (actually fruit) of silphium.
Example of a heart-shaped mericarp fruit in a plant (Heracleum sphondylium) belonging, like the unidentified silphium, to the parsley family, Apiaceae.
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.
Ferula tingitana: a possible identity for silphium.
Heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator
Parametric equation of heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator