Etymologically
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healthy

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈhel.θi/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from health and the adjective suffix -y.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having good health, and also promoting health: both 1552 in the OED[3] and Merriam-Webster,[4] the 1550s in Etymonline.[2] An earlier word in the same sense was healthsome, from the 1530s.[2]

Semantic evolution

“Showing or typical of health”, literally and figuratively, is from 1597.[3] Ironic use, as of a dangerous place, is from 1831.[3] Of an appetite, “large, as a sign of good health”, is from 1836,[3] and the AHD gives the general sense “sizable, considerable”, as in a healthy profit.[5] Nineteenth-century writers objected to calling foods healthy:[2] Eliza Leslie (1839) said that wholesome was the right word, since a pig may be healthy while alive but not once it is pork.[2] The AHD notes that the distinction between healthy, “in good health”, and healthful, “promoting health”, was only drawn in the 1880s.[5]

Timeline

  • 1530s – healthsome.[2]
  • 1552 – in good health; promoting health.[3][4]
  • 1597 – showing health.[3]
  • 1831 – ironic use.[3]
  • 1836 – of an appetite, large.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. In good health.
  2. Good for the health: a healthy diet.
  3. Showing sound judgement or a sound state of mind.
  4. Large, considerable: a healthy profit.

Word family

  • healthily
  • healthiness
  • heart-healthy
  • unhealthy

Usage notes

Usage critics once insisted that healthy means “in good health” and healthful “promoting health”, but the AHD notes that healthy has long been used in both senses, and the distinction dates only from the 1880s.[5] Healthy stresses the absence of disease, while sound implies freedom from defect, hale and robust vigour, and wholesome what promotes health.[5]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin