unharmed

Etymology

It is formed from English un- + harmed, the negative prefix and the past participle of the verb harm.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster places the formation in Middle English, from the past participle of harmen (“to harm”).^[5] The OED notes that one early form may instead contain the past participle of a Middle English verb with the prefix y-.^[2] The verb harm is from Old English hearmian (“to hurt, injure”), from the noun hearm (“hurt, pain; evil, grief; insult”),^[4] which goes back to Proto-Germanic *harmaz.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not injured: 1340–70, in the alliterative poem Alexander and Dindimus;^[2] Etymonline likewise dates the word to the mid-14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same since Middle English.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "unhurt; not injured", with a quotation from Shakespeare: "From love's weak, childish bow she lives unharm'd".^[6] The Shorter Oxford notes that it is usually used after the verb, as in to escape unharmed,^[3] and Collins extends it to moral and mental as well as physical injury.^[7] Related formations came later: unharmful, not harmful, from the mid-16th century, and unharming, causing no harm, from the late 18th.^[3]

Timeline

• 1340–70 – not injured, in Alexander and Dindimus.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not hurt or damaged in body, mind or character; safe, unscathed: Both climbers came down the mountain unharmed.^[7][5][3]

Related words

• harmless

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins