Etymology

by heart

Today it means: From unaided memory and in full detail. Full definition →

Middle English by herte
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromby herte
  2. English todayby heart

From Middle English by herte. Compare French par cœur (literally “by heart”), of which the English may be a calque.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.