A heald body fabricated of a round wire and having a round shank with a flattened intermediate or center section (9) that is provided with a widened opening (16) delimited by two legs (14, 15). The area (A1) of the round cross section of the shank (20) substantially corresponds to the sum of the cross sectional areas (A5, A6) of the two legs (14, 15) of the intermediate section, whereby the heald body has a substantially constant cross-sectional area along its length.