Etymologically
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wholesome

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈhəʊl.səm/[1]
  • US: /ˈhoʊl.səm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English holsom, also hoolsom,[2][3] formed from Middle English hol (“healthy, entire, whole”) + -som, the second part being the adjective suffix that is now -some.[3][4][5] The OED suggests that it may have been modelled on Scandinavian words of the same make, such as Old Norse heilsamr (“in good health, salutary”);[4] the MED, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it to have existed already in Old English as an unrecorded *hālsum,[2][6][7][8] and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz.[9] It is related in form to Old High German heilsam, now heilsam (“healing, salutary”), and to the Old Norse adjective.[10][6][11] whole in the sense "healthy" is from Old English hāl, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“undamaged”), from Proto-Indo-European *kailo- (“whole, uninjured, of good omen”).[5][8] The spelling beginning with "wh" follows that of the adjective.[4] Old English itself used halwende for this sense.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Doing good to the mind or soul; beneficial, salutary: about 1175, in the Ormulum,[4] about 1200 in Etymonline, which glosses it "of benefit to the soul".[5]

Semantic evolution

The moral and spiritual sense came first, and the physical one followed in the late 14th century:[5] from about 1387, in Trevisa, the word meant healing or curative, while from about 1398 it meant promoting bodily health, as of food or air.[4][2] In Middle English it could also describe pleasant sights and smells,[2] and Chaucer used it seven times.[12] From the early 16th century it was used of people themselves, healthy in body or mind, or virtuous,[4] and sailors from 1627 called a ship wholesome when it rode steadily without rolling.[4][13] Johnson (1755) put "sound", of doctrine, first among its senses.[14] In current use the moral sense often means reflecting conventional moral values, as of entertainment or a public image.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – beneficial to the mind or soul; salutary.[4]
  • before 1387 – healing, curative.[4][2]
  • before 1398 – promoting bodily health.[4][13]
  • before 1533 – of a person, healthy in body or mind; virtuous.[4]
  • 1627 – of a ship, stable in the water.[4][13]
  • 1738 – noun, the wholesomes, one's health (slang, now rare).[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Good for the health of the body: a wholesome breakfast of oats and fruit.[8][11][3]
  2. Good for one's moral or mental well-being, especially in keeping with conventional moral values: wholesome family films.[8][11][3]
  3. Looking healthy and well: a wholesome complexion.[11][8]

Word family

  • wholesomely
  • wholesomeness

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.