Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

harmful

/ˈhɑɹmfl̩/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.97 in modern English

Syllables: harm-ful
IPA: /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/

15

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.

Example Sentences

"Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight."
"Smoking is harmful to the lungs."
"Burning fossil fuels is harmful to the environment."

Etymology

From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfullīċ (“harmful; hurtful”)), equivalent to harm + -ful. Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: harmful, *hearmful
Suffix: harm

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/
British English: /ˈhɑːmfl̩/

Inflected Forms

harmfuller (comparative) more harmful (comparative) harmfullest (superlative) most harmful (superlative) harmfull (alternative)

Derived Forms

harmfully harmfulness nonharmful unharmful

Frequently Paired Words

harm disastrous

Synonyms

injurious harmful damaging deleterious detrimental hurtful inimical mischievous nocent nocuous noxious noisome

Antonyms

beneficial harmless helpful valuable innocent innocuous innoxious inoffensive undamaging unharmful

Questions

How do you pronounce harmful?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/.
What does harmful mean?: Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
Where does harmful come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce harmful

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “harmful”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhɑɹmfl̩/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “harmful”.
Repeat and practice — Say “harmful” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.