Meaning

noun common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere

noun interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color

originFrom Middle English hather, hathir, from Old English *hǣddre and hǣþ (“heather”), cognate with Scots hedder, hadder, heddir (“heather”), Saterland Frisian Heede (“heather”), West Frisian heide (“heather”), Dutch heide (“heather”), German Low German Heide, Heid (“heather”), German Heide (“heather”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0