hardy
n.strong and able to survive difficult conditions like cold weather or hard work. You use this to describe plants that live through the winter or people who do not get sick easily.
n.capable of enduring fatigue, hardship, or exposure to harsh environmental conditions. Often used in botanical contexts to describe plants that survive winter outdoors without protection.
“These hardy plants survive even in the coldest winters.”
“The mountain guides are a hardy group of people who spend all year working in freezing temperatures.”
“While many tropical species require a greenhouse to survive the frost, these hardy shrubs can be planted directly in the garden and will thrive with minimal maintenance.”
Typically used as an attributive adjective before a noun, though it can also follow a linking verb.
Learners often confuse 'hardy' (strong/tough) with 'hearty' (loud/cheerful or large, as in a meal).
From Old English *Hearda + īeġ (“island, dry land in a marsh”).
* As an English, Scottish, and French surname, from Middle English hardy, hardi, from Old French hardi (“hardy, daring, stout, bold”). * As an Irish surname, via mac giolla deacair (“son of the hard lad”) as a calque of the above. * Also as a Scottish surname, variant of Hardie.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.