The shape of the heart (moved due to nsfw images)

Coincidence?
How in the world did the heart shape originate? It is certainly not because of the shape of the human heart.

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Well … we don’t really know. That the modern heart shape may be derived from buttocks, the breasts or a spread vulva have certainly been proposed.
We also know that the shape was used in antiquity, probably most famously to depict seeds or leaves of the silphium plant, which was used as contraceptive (by men, no less, and was so efficient, it was used to extinction).
Early medieval times see the shape return in heraldry to symbolize ivy leaves; late medieval sources use it as the heart we know today, but we can’t conclusively link these three.

Short answer: :person_shrugging:

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