hale

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /heɪl/ UK /heɪl/ See IPA manual

Homophones

hail /heɪl/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like hell /ɛ/ vs /eɪ/

Meanings

1

adj
strong and healthy, especially in old age; (verb) to haul or compel to go

At ninety he was still hale and worked his garden daily.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · strong and healthy,... healthy robust hearty vigorous sound hardy fit

Opposites

frail sickly infirm ailing feeble

Word family

Derived forms haleness

Related forms heal health whole hallow

Simplified etymology

Hale is an Old English word related to whole and to hail meaning ‘to greet’. Related forms appear in the second halves of the Old Norse drinking toasts wassail, ‘Be in good health’, and drinkhail, ‘Drink good health’.

Etymology

From Old English hāl ('whole, healthy, sound'), a northern variant of whole, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz, from Proto-Indo-European *koylos ('whole, healthy'). The verb 'to haul, compel' is a separate word from Old French haler.

hāl Old English *hailaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# hale

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /heɪl/
**IPA (UK):** /heɪl/

## Meanings
1. strong and healthy, especially in old age; (verb) to haul or compel to go

## Examples
- At ninety he was still hale and worked his garden daily.

## Synonyms
- healthy
- robust
- hearty
- vigorous
- sound
- hardy
- fit

## Antonyms
- frail
- sickly
- infirm
- ailing
- feeble

## Derived Forms
- haleness

## Related Forms
- heal
- health
- whole
- hallow

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hāl
- Root: *hailaz

## Etymology
From Old English hāl ('whole, healthy, sound'), a northern variant of whole, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz, from Proto-Indo-European *koylos ('whole, healthy'). The verb 'to haul, compel' is a separate word from Old French haler.

## AI Etymology
Hale is from Old English hāl ('whole, healthy, sound'), a northern variant of whole, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz, from Proto-Indo-European *koylos ('whole, healthy'). The verb 'to haul, compel' is a separate word from Old French haler. In present-day use, it means strong and healthy, especially in old age; (verb) to haul or compel to go. Derived formations include haleness. Related vocabulary includes heal, health, whole, and hallow.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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