The Meaning of Purple Heart: What It Is and How To Use It

Has someone ever sent you the purple heart emoji? Were you confused about what the purple heart means? Keep reading to learn how to use this emoji.

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There are various meanings of the purple heart; most people either know it as an emoji or a medal awarded by the U.S. Armed Forces. What does each of these purple hearts mean? Keep reading this article to learn about the meanings of the purple heart emoji and purple heart medal, translations of purple heart, and other emojis.

What Does the Purple Heart Mean?

The term purple heart can refer to a couple of different things; either the purple heart emoji or the military award.

The Purple Heart Emoji

According to Dictionary, the purple heart emoji can represent many forms of love, close bonds, passion, enthusiasm, comfort, loyalty, admiration, and serenity. This popular heart is also frequently associated with purple things, like sports teams and school colors. 

This heart can be used interchangeably with many other hearts and is often used by people who enjoy purple.

The Military Purple Heart

According to USO, the Purple Heart medal is awarded to soldiers and service members who have suffered injuries or have been killed due to enemy action while participating in their service for the U.S. Military. This medal honors a soldier’s service and sacrifices for their country. People celebrate Purple Heart Day on August 7.

The first people to receive the predecessor to the Purple Heart award were the Continental Army soldiers William Brown and Elijah Churchill. They earned the Badge of Military Merit for their service during the Siege of Yorktown and battle near Fort St. George during the Revolutionary War. 

The first person to receive the Purple Heart we know today was Douglas MacArthur, an army general who served in the Pacific theater during World War II.

Some famous recipients of the Purple Heart include John F. Kennedy, Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, Warren Spahn, Kurt Vonnegut, Oliver Stone, Pat Tillman, James Arness, Charles Bronson, Rocky Bleier, James Garner, Rod Serling, and even a couple of animals like Sgt. Reckless the Horse and Sgt. Stubby the Dog.

What Is the Origin of the Purple Heart?

The purple heart emoji and military decoration have very different origin stories.

The Origin of the Purple Heart Emoji

The purple heart emoji was first released on iPhones in 2010 under Unicode 6.0. In 2016, when Kim Taehyung from BTS began to use the color purple to show love for his fans, BTS fans adopted the purple heart on social media sites like Twitter to show their love in return.

The Origin of the Military Purple Heart

The Purple Heart medal has been around for a long time, but it is not the first military medal. The Continental Congress first created the Fidelity Medallion in 1780, and two years later, President George Washington founded the Badge of Military Merit.

These two medals are considered the predecessor to the Purple Heart award. The Badge of Military Merit had a purple cloth heart on it and was given to soldiers who showed bravery in battle and service to their fellow army men. This award later evolved into the Purple Heart in 1932 from Army General Douglas MacArthur.

The Badge of Military Merit was largely given to people who were officers in victorious battles. However, the Purple Heart can also give awards to non-commissioned officers or lower-ranking soldiers for outstanding service. 

Additionally, any wounded or deceased soldier can receive a Purple Heart if their injury or death occurred in enemy action.

The War Department and President Roosevelt refined the qualifications to receive a Purple Heart in 1942, which allowed it to be given posthumously and expanded the eligibility to all military branches of service.

What Are Translations of Purple Heart?

There are many ways that a person could say purple heart in different languages, according to Nice Translator.

  • Portuguese (Portugal): coração roxo
  • Catalan: Cor porpra
  • German: Lila Herz
  • Swedish: lila hjärta
  • Vietnamese: trái tim tím
  • Estonian: lilla süda
  • Polish: fioletowe serce
  • Portuguese (Brazil): coração roxo
  • Hebrew: לב סגול
  • Tamil: ஊதா இதயம்
  • Dutch: paars hart
  • Norwegian: lilla hjerte
  • Kannada: ಪರ್ಪಲ್ ಹಾರ್ಟ್
  • Thai: หัวใจสีม่วง
  • French: cœur violet
  • Welsh: calon porffor
  • Basque: Bihotz morea
  • Italian: cuore viola
  • Greek: μωβ καρδιά
  • Filipino: Purple na puso
  • Marathi: जांभळा हृदय
  • Ukrainian: пурпурне серце
  • Swahili: Moyo wa rangi ya zambarau
  • Lithuanian: Violetinė širdis
  • Finnish: violetti sydän
  • Bulgarian: Лилаво сърце
  • Serbian: љубичасто срце
  • Turkish: Mor Kalp
  • Romanian: inima mov
  • Latvian: purpura sirds
  • Slovenian: vijolično srce
  • Chinese (Taiwan): 紫心
  • Telugu: ఊదా గుండె
  • Amharic: ሐምራዊ ልብ
  • Japanese: パープルハート
  • Czech: fialové srdce
  • Slovak: fialový srdce
  • Malayalam: പർപ്പിൾ ഹൃദയം
  • Chinese (PRC): 紫心
  • Gujarati: જાંબલી હૃદય
  • Hungarian: lila szív
  • Korean: 보라색 심장
  • Croatian: ljubičasto srce
  • Danish: lilla hjerte
  • Arabic: قلب بنفسجي
  • Hindi: बैंगनी दिल
  • Spanish: corazón Purpura
  • Russian: фиолетовое сердце
  • Bengali: বেগুনি হার্ট
  • Urdu: جامنی دل

What Are Other Emojis?

Emojipedia states that there are numerous other heart emojis.

  • 💟 Heart Decoration Emoji
  • 🧡 Orange Heart Emoji
  • 💓 Beating Heart Emoji
  • 💘 Heart with Arrow Emoji
  • 💖 Sparkling Heart Emoji
  • 💗 Growing Heart Emoji
  • 🤎 Brown Heart Emoji
  • 💕 Two Hearts Emoji
  • 💔 Broken Heart Emoji
  • 🖤 Black Heart Emoji
  • 💙 Blue Heart Emoji
  • ❤️ Red Heart Emoji
  • 💞 Revolving Hearts Emoji
  • 💝 Heart with Ribbon Emoji
  • ❣️ Heart Exclamation Emoji
  • ♥️ Heart Suit Emoji
  • 💛 Yellow Heart Emoji
  • 🤍 White Heart Emoji
  • 💚 Green Heart Emoji

Conclusion

The purple heart can either reference a military decoration or a purple emoji in the shape of a heart. A Purple Heart can honor members of the armed forces of the United States for their meritorious service and compassion, and the purple heart emoji is used to show love, compassion, and romance.

Sources:

  1. What Every Heart Emoji Really Means | Emojipedia 
  2. 8 Things You Need to Know About the Purple Heart Medal | USO
  3. 💜 Purple Heart emoji Meaning | Dictionary.com  
  4. Purple Heart | Nice Translator