# wholesome

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈhoʊl.səm/ · frequency rank #14,868

## Definitions
1. Promoting good physical health and well-being.
2. Promoting moral and mental well-being.
3. Favorable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous.
4. Marked by wholeness; sound and healthy.
5. Decent; innocuous; sweet.

## 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”).

## Easily confused with
- **wholesale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wholesale-vs-wholesome)

## Common misspellings (13)
`hwolesome`, `whholesome`, `whloesome`, `whoelsome`, `wholeosme`, `wholesmoe`, `wholesoem`, `wholesomme`, `wholessome`, `whollesome`, `wholseome`, `wohlesome`, `wwholesome`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wholesome