different between health vs healthful

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English helþe, from Old English h?lþ, from Proto-West Germanic *hailiþu, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, hale”). Cognate with Old High German heilida. Analyzable as whole +? -th, hale +? -th, or heal +? -th. More at heal.

Alternative forms

• helth, helthe, healthe (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?lth, IPA^(key): /h?l?/, [h?l??]
• Rhymes: -?l?

Noun

health (usually uncountable, plural healths)

1. The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness. [from 11th c.]
2. A state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social; the overall level of function of an organism from the cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level.

3. Physical condition.
4. in shape, in forme.
5. (obsolete) Cure, remedy. [16th c. (Middle English: 11th-15th c.)]
6. (countable) A toast to prosperity. [from 17th c.]
7. (video games) The amount of damage an in-game object can withstand before it is destroyed.

Derived terms

Related terms

• heal

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English heleð (“man, hero, fighter”), from Old English hæleþ (“man, hero, fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *haliþ, from Proto-Germanic *haliþaz (“man, hero”). Cognate with West Frisian held (“hero”), Dutch held (“hero”), German Held (“hero”), Danish helt (“hero”), Swedish hjälte (“hero”), Norwegian hold (“hero”).

Alternative forms

• heleth

Noun

health (plural healths)

1. (obsolete) A warrior; hero; man.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion

     They, under false pretence of amity and cheer, the British peers invite, the German healths to view.

References

• health in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• health in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Alternative forms

• healthfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English helthful, helþful, helþeful, equivalent to health +? -ful.

Adjective

healthful (comparative healthfuller or more healthful, superlative healthfullest or most healthful)

1. Beneficial to bodily health.
   • 1906, Princeton Alumni Weekly (volume 7, page 210)

     Hockey is an exciting and healthful form of exercise, well suited to college students […]

2. Conducive to moral or spiritual prosperity; salutary.
   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Folio Society 2008, p. 30:

     As he had been thinking for months about leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself, her departure was a very healthful shock.

Synonyms

• healthy
• salubrious
• salutary
• wholesome

Usage notes

When a clearer distinction is intended, healthy is used to describe the state of the object, and healthful describes its ability to impart health to the recipient. Vegetables in good condition are both healthy (i.e., not rotten or diseased) and healthful (i.e., they improve the eaters' health, compared to eating junk food). By contrast, a poisonous plant can be healthy, but it is not healthful to eat of.

Derived terms

• healthfully
• healthfulness

Related terms

• heal
• health
• healthy

Translations