Since Valentine's Day is approaching, you are probably seeing more and more heart shaped decorations and merchandise. Even when romantic holidays aren’t in season, we use heart emojis in our texts and click hearts to “like” Instagram posts and TikToks.

The heart shape is everywhere in pop culture, but have you ever paused to think about how the heart shape came to be? The two rounded tops and pointy end of the heart shape we see everyday looks nothing like the anatomy of the human heart, so why does the shape look the way it does?

Heart in a Plant 🌱

Although there is no solid origin story, the popular theory is that the shape was actually inspired by a plant and not the human heart.

Silphium was a plant that once grew all over the ancient Greek city of Cyrene. It was a type of fennel whose sap was used as a healing syrup for all different kinds of ailments, but it was popularly known as the early version of birth control. Since the plant had so many benefits, Silphium became Cyrene’s main trade, making the city so rich that it imprinted the plant’s stalk and seed pod onto their silver coins. Looking at the coins, you may recognize the shape of the seed pods.

Two silver Cyrene coins from the ancient silphium trade with the one on the left depicting a silphium seed pod that looks like a heart and the one on the right depicting the plant itself.

Cyrene/Kyrene (Lybia) drachm coin (520-480 BC) from ancient silphium trade. The coin’s design is one of the few surviving images of a heart shaped seedpod of the extinct silphium plant.

The plant’s associations with love and lust may have linked the heart symbol with the same romantic themes that we use it for today.

Avian Heart 🐦

On the left is an illustration of the anatomy of a bird’s heart, and the right is an illustration of the anatomy of a human heart.

Another theory that seems to be more scientifically backed starts with Aristotle’s belief that emotions come from the heart and not the head. However, human dissection was considered blasphemous by the Catholic church in the 14th century, so scientists performed experiments through bird dissections. This means that illustrations of the heart during this time resembled bird hearts, which are more similar to the heart shapes we see today than the human heart.

The Rise of the Heart 🫶

A tapestry depicts a woman seated amongst foliage, carrying a falcon on her gloved left hand. A man walks towards her, offering her a small red heart.

“Le don du Coeur”

A significant piece of artwork from the late 14th century that represented the heart as a symbol of love was a tapestry called “Le don du Coeur” or “The Offering of the Heart”, which depicts a man holding a small heart to a woman. Around this time was when hearts became more and more popular as a symbol of love, instead of just an anatomical illustration. Similarly, today, you can see many hearts being exchanged through cards, chocolates, and even plushies on Valentine’s Day to express love.