healthful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈhɛlθfəl/ UK /ˈhɛlθfəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
conducive to good health; wholesome

They credited their longevity to a simple, healthful diet of grains and greens.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · conducive to good health;... wholesome salubrious nourishing beneficial salutary nutritious

Opposites

unhealthfulunwholesome harmful noxious insalubrious

Word family

Forms healthfulnessunhealthful

Derived forms healthfullyhealthfulness

Related forms health healthy heal

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

healthful nutrition
Nourishment that supports health and normal bodily functioning.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From health plus -ful; health derives from Old English hælth ('wholeness, soundness'), from hāl ('whole, sound'), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

hælth Old English *hailaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# healthful

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

## Meanings
1. conducive to good health; wholesome

## Examples
- They credited their longevity to a simple, healthful diet of grains and greens.

## Synonyms
- wholesome
- salubrious
- nourishing
- beneficial
- salutary
- nutritious

## Antonyms
- unhealthful
- unwholesome
- harmful
- noxious
- insalubrious

## Derived Forms
- healthfully
- healthfulness

## Related Forms
- health
- healthy
- heal

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

## Etymology
From health plus -ful; health derives from Old English hælth ('wholeness, soundness'), from hāl ('whole, sound'), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz.

## AI Etymology
Healthful comes from health plus -ful; health derives from Old English hælth ('wholeness, soundness'), from hāl ('whole, sound'), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz. The etymological trail includes Old English hælth and Proto-Germanic *hailaz. As an adjective, healthful describes what is conducive to good health; wholesome. The same family is visible in derived forms such as healthfully and healthfulness and related forms such as health, healthy, and heal.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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