Harmonious

How to spell harmonious

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce harmonious

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does harmonious mean?

1. adjectiveMarked by agreement, cooperation, or a pleasing combination of parts, sounds, or colours.

Harmonious in a sentence

• The two departments enjoyed a harmonious working relationship for years.

• The choir produced a rich, harmonious blend of voices.

Where does harmonious come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek harmonia, which originally meant a joining or fitting together, as in the way the planks of a ship were pinned and joined; it was built on the verb harmozein, meaning 'to fit' or 'to join'. From that practical sense of pieces fitting cleanly together, the Greeks extended it to musical concord, the pleasing agreement of notes sounded together. Latin took the word as harmonia, and it passed into Old French as harmonie before reaching English in the late 1300s. The adjective harmonious was formed in English by the 1400s, adding the Latin-derived suffix -ious to give the meaning 'full of harmony'. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle vowel and the -ious ending, which sounds like a simple '-us' but must be written with the silent 'i'.

How the word is built

• harmon- (from Greek harmonia: agreement, concord)
• -ious (adjective suffix: full of, characterised by)