Meaning

noun an actor who plays villainous roles

noun a serious (or tragic) role in a play

adjective of comparatively great physical weight or density

originFrom Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to take, grasp, hold”). Equivalent to heave + -y. Related to have. Cognate with Scots hevy, havy,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0