Healthy

How to spell healthy

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce healthy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does healthy mean?

1. adjectiveEnjoying good health, or contributing to good health and wellbeing.
2. adjectiveIn a sound, flourishing or robust state, said of things like finances or growth.

Healthy in a sentence

• A healthy diet includes plenty of vegetables and whole grains.

• The company reported a healthy profit at the end of the quarter.

• Regular walking keeps her heart strong and healthy.

• After months of saving they finally had a healthy balance in the account.

Where does healthy come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word grows from the Old English noun hǣlth, meaning 'wholeness' or 'soundness of body', which in turn came from hāl, the ancestor of 'whole', 'hale' and even 'heal'. To be healthy was originally to be entire and unbroken, the same idea that lets us still speak of 'whole foods' or a 'wholesome' meal. The adjective form healthy, with the everyday -y suffix that turns a noun into 'full of' or 'characterised by', appears in English around the sixteenth century, gradually edging out the older adjective 'healthful'. The silent gh in the related word 'health' is a fossil of an old Germanic throat sound that English stopped pronouncing centuries ago, which is exactly why the lth cluster can trip writers up. Over time the meaning broadened from bodily soundness to anything thriving or beneficial, so a business or a bank balance can now be called healthy too.

How the word is built

• health (from Old English hǣlth: wholeness, soundness)
• -y (adjective suffix: characterised by)