Hardy, Hearty, Har Har

It's cherry blossom season here in D.C. and this morning even the small grove of cherry trees lining the sidewalk near the Metro station seemed a picture of fuschia splendor. These same trees come late summer's swelter look so tired and worn, like they'll barely hold on to bloom again next spring. Several of them today bore bare twigs and branches between the puffy blossoms. "Too bad they aren't particularly hardy trees," I thought as I passed. "Or wait -- should that be hearty?" I secondguessed myself as I so often have with that particular pair of words.

Hearty. Hardy. They're almost homonyms (I'd say they are except among the most careful enunciators). But are they interchangeable terms? Hearty, I've tried to remind myself, is basically a shortened version of wholehearted, meaning heartfelt, ardent, enthusiastic, effusive. Hardy, on the other hand, is like a slightly longer version of hard and means tough, durable, rugged. So this morning, of course, I should've used hardy.

But wait -- other synonyms given for hardy are vigorous, lusty, hale and hearty. And other definitions for hearty include, robust, healthy, fit and flourishing, vigorous, and hardy.

So the joke's on me. All this time I've been wondering if I've been erroneously conflating the meaning of these two words and it turns out that they are synonyms in some contexts. Still, hearty has some meanings that diverge from hardy. For example, offering your hearty congratulations to a colleague expresses your heartfelt sentiments in a way that a hardy congratulations doesn't fully convey. You'd be better off praising the troops for their hardiness in the face of the perils of war. And while you might refer to your hearty or hardy grandfather's ability to still cut a rug at age 87, it is more precise to speak fondly of your goofy uncle's hearty penchant for telling silly knock-knock jokes.

Dictionary Definitions:
Hearty
Pronounced: [här'-tē]
Roots: Related to roots of heart: Old English heorte, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hart and German Herz, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin cor, cord- and Greek kēr, kardia.
1. (of a person or their behavior) loudly vigorous and cheerful; e.g., a hearty and boisterous character, he sang in a hearty baritone.
• (of a feeling or an opinion) heartfelt; e.g., hearty congratulations.
• (of a person) strong and healthy; e.g., a white-bearded but hearty man.
2 (of food) wholesome and substantial; e.g., a hearty meal.
• (of a person's appetite) robust and healthy; e.g., Jim goes for a long walk to work up a hearty appetite for dinner.

Hardy
Pronounced: [här'-dē]
Roots: from Old French hardi, past participle of hardir ‘become bold,’ of Germanic origin; related to hard.
1. robust; capable of enduring hardship, rigors of weather, difficult conditions.
2. bold, courageous, daring.