wholesome
/ˈhoʊl.səm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.51 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Promoting moral and mental well-being.
Example Sentences
- "I prethee go, and get me ſome repaſt, I care not what, ſo it be holſome foode."
- "Everything we do is so wholesome."
- "Though hard, my friends, yet wholesome are the truths, taught in affliction's school, whence the pure soul rises refined, and soars above the world."
- "A wholeſome tongue is a tree of life: but peruerſneſſe therein is a breach in the ſpirit."
- "Sometimes white Lyllies did their Leaves afford, With wholſom Polly-flow'rs, to mend his homely Board: […]"
- "The more solicitous of the two was Nurse Cramer, a shapely, pretty, sexless girl with a wholesome unattractive face."
Etymology
From earlier holesome, from Middle English holsom, holsum, helsum, halsum, from Old English *hālsum, *hǣlsum, from Proto-West Germanic *hailasam, from Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz, equivalent to whole + -some or hale (“healthy”) + -some. Cognate with Saterland Frisian heelsoam, Dutch heilzaam, German Low German heelsaam, German heilsam, Icelandic heilsamur, Norwegian Nynorsk helsesam, Swedish hälsosam (“wholesome”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhoʊl.səm/
- British English: /ˈhəʊl.səm/
Inflected Forms
more wholesome (comparative)
wholesomer (comparative)
most wholesome (superlative)
wholesomest (superlative)
holesom (alternative)
holesome (alternative)
wholsom (alternative)
wholsome (alternative)