Health

How to spell health

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce health

What does health mean?

1. nounThe general condition of the body and mind, especially the state of being free from illness.
2. nounThe general soundness or good condition of something such as an economy, organisation, or relationship.

Health in a sentence

• Regular exercise improves both physical and mental health.

• The report assessed the financial health of the business.

• The company offers a health plan that covers dental treatment.

• Low debt is a sign of the bank's underlying health.

Where does health come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Health comes from the Old English word hælth, which described the state of being hale, sound, and whole. It was built from hal, meaning 'whole' or 'uninjured', with the suffix -th that turns an adjective into a noun naming a condition, just as 'warm' yields 'warmth' and 'strong' yields 'strength'. The same hal root sits inside the modern words 'whole', 'hale', and the greeting 'hail', all of which once shared the idea of soundness and good condition. Because the word descends directly from native Anglo-Saxon roots rather than Latin or French, its spelling is genuinely old, and the silent link to 'heal' is a useful memory hook: to be in good health is to be healed and whole. The meaning broadened over the centuries from purely physical soundness of the body to the general wellbeing of a person, an organisation, or even a system.

How the word is built

• heal (Old English hal: whole, sound)
• -th (noun suffix forming a state or condition)