The origin of the heart shape?

Question

How did the <3 symbol start to represent the heart? WHY does it look the way it does? With two bumps on the top, narrowing down towards the bottom...?

Answer 1

Actually, the real heart is more the size and shape of your fist.

Anthropologists tell us that the "heart" shape is derived from the inverted shape of the naked female buttocks, a shape designed to remind the male of the species of our ancestral past when a female would "present" herself to entice a suitable male. If so, I don't know how it got inverted - unless our ancestral females used to bend over at the waist with straight, crossed legs. It would work today, but I don't know whether a semi-evolved species would go to such lengths.

An alternative origin is it is the shape formed when a naked woman folds her hands together in front of her - her breasts making the two rounded bumps on top, coming down to a V in her cleavage. Her arms make the point at the bottom. Or even a naked woman sitting down, so the point at the bottom would be where her legs meet her pubic area. This suggestion makes more sense to me.

Answer 2

In European traditional art and folklore, the heart symbol is drawn in a stylized shape. This shape is typically colored red, suggesting both blood and, in many cultures, passion and strong emotion. It and diamonds are the two red suits in most playing card decks. The shape is particularly associated with romantic poetry; it is often seen on St. Valentine's Day cards, candy boxes, and similar popular culture artifacts as a symbol of romantic love.

What the traditional "heart shape" actually depicts is a matter of some controversy. It only vaguely resembles the human heart. Some people claim that it actually depicts the heart of a cow, a more readily available sight to most people in past centuries than an actual human heart. However, while beef hearts are more similar to the iconic heart shape, the resemblance is still slight. The shape does resemble that of the three-chambered heart of the turtle, and that of the human male prostate gland, but it is very unlikely that the image was patterned after either of these organs. The double humps atop a stylized heart vaguely recall a human penis head's shape, but a rounded rather than pointed tip would better have captured the likeness.

The "heart" shape could also be considered to depict features of the human female body, such as the female's pubic mound or spread vulva. A Sumerian cuneiform symbol for "woman" closely resembles the heart shape, and is believed to directly depict the pubic mound. Others maintain that the heart resembles the shape of the female breasts or the female buttocks.

Another possible origin can be seen on the coins of the ancient city of Cyrene, some of which depict the seeds or fruit of the now-extinct silphium plant. The seeds are distinctly heart-shaped. Since this plant was widely used as an ancient herbal contraceptive or abortifacient, this shape may have come to be associated with sexuality and love.
The "heart" shape could also be considered to depict features of the human female body, such as the female's pubic mound or spread vulva. A Sumerian cuneiform symbol for "woman" closely resembles the heart shape, and is believed to directly depict the pubic mound. Others maintain that the heart resembles the shape of the female breasts or the female buttocks.

Another possible origin can be seen on the coins of the ancient city of Cyrene, some of which depict the seeds or fruit of the now-extinct silphium plant. The seeds are distinctly heart-shaped. Since this plant was widely used as an ancient herbal contraceptive or abortifacient, this shape may have come to be associated with sexuality and love.


The most common emoticon for the heart is <3. In Unicode, the heart symbol is U+2665, and it can thus be generated in HTML by typing ♥ or ♥, or by the HTML entity ♥. Mathematically, a heart-shaped figure, called a cardioid, can be represented by plotting a graph of either (x2 + y2 − 1)3 = x2y3 or, in polar form, r = 1 − sin(θ)

Answer 3

The icon or the heart shape in general? Because from the right angle this is roughly the shape of your heart, wide at the top, apex at the bottom, two sides. Though your heart is more asymmetrical.