holistic

Etymology

It is formed from English holism + -istic,^[2][3] on the pattern of pairs such as optimism and optimistic.^[4][5] The OED analyses it as Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) with the English suffix -istic.^[6] Both holism and holistic were coined by the South African soldier and statesman Jan Christiaan Smuts.^[5][7] Etymonline traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *sol- (“whole, well-kept”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to holism, the tendency in nature to form wholes from the ordered grouping of smaller units: 1926, in Smuts's Holism and Evolution.^[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

Smuts's philosophical theory is now little discussed, but the adjective spread beyond it.^[7] From the 1960s it was used of medicine that treats the whole person and not only the physical symptoms.^[6][2] Etymonline dates holistic medicine to 1960, and the OED's first record of the medical sense is from the journal Psychosomatics in the same year.^[2][6] Today it is also used generally of approaches that deal with whole systems rather than with their separate parts.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1926 – relating to holism; tending to produce or perceive wholes.^[6][5][8]
• 1960 – of medicine, treating the whole person.^[6][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dealing with something as a whole or as a complete system, rather than by analysing its parts separately: The council took a holistic view of the town's transport problems.^[8][9]
2. (medicine) Treating the whole person, taking account of mental, social and other factors and not only the symptoms of a disease.^[10][11][12]
3. (philosophy) Relating to holism, or holding that the parts of something can be explained only by reference to the whole.^[10][11][6]

Word family

• holistically

Related words

• holism
• catholic
• holocaust
• hologram

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press