whole
Part of speech: adj
adv
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: business
mining
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos
Proto-Germanic *hailaz
Proto-West Germanic *hail
Old English hāl
Middle English hol
English whole
From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”).
The spelling with wh-, attested since ca. 1400, represents an excrescent /w/, which developed in words with initial /(h)ɔː/, /(h)oː/ in southwestern dialects of Middle English. While this pronunciation did not establish itself in the standard language (except in one), the spelling survived in whole and whore, in the former case likely reinforced by a desire to disambiguate from hole.
Cognates
Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy. False cognate of Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos).
Inflected forms:
form: wholer
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more whole
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: wholest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most whole
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: hole
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: more whole
pos: adv
tags: comparative
form: most whole
pos: adv
tags: superlative
form: hole
pos: adv
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: wholes
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hole
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Entire, undivided.
pos: adj
examples: I ate a whole fish.
During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]
Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.
A traveller in 1887 describes the difference between the peoples found when crossing the frontier in the Ichow prefecture. In Kiangsu he had been met by rudeness and obstruction, on his entering Shantung, at the very first village he was received with courtesy and even kindness, and he found the same feelings expressed through the whole province.
“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages.
gloss: Entire, undivided.
pos: adj
examples: I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party. She ate a whole bunch of french fries.
There, a huge blue heron stands sentry like a statue, eye on the surface, waiting for his next meal to wriggle by. A lone grassy hill overlooks it all, well above the flood line, big enough to pitch a whole mess of tents [on].
I'm thinking, thanks a whole fuck of a lot, Robert. You could have laid that on me weeks ago.
gloss: Sound, uninjured, healthy.
pos: adj
examples: He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state.
Here, with one balm for many fevers found, / Whole of an ancient evil, I sleep sound.
gloss: From which none of its constituents has been removed.
pos: adj
examples: whole wheat; whole milk
gloss: As yet unworked.
pos: adj
gloss: In entirety; entirely; wholly.
pos: adv
tags: colloquial
examples: I ate a fish whole!
That’s a whole other story.
gloss: Something complete, without any parts missing.
pos: noun
examples: This variety of fascinating details didn't fall together into an enjoyable, coherent whole.
gloss: An entirety.
pos: noun
Derived words: 20 whole dollars
an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
as a whole
a whole 'nother
a whole nother
committee of the whole
double whole
double whole note
go the whole hog
go whole hog
go the whole pile
have one's whole life ahead of one
heart-whole
make whole
mean the whole world to
one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
on the whole
out of whole cloth
part-whole bias
part-whole model
put one's whole pussy into
quadruple whole
quadruple whole note
run the whole show
smoke the whole pack
the whole bang shoot
the whole caboodle
the whole nine yards
the whole shop
the whole while
the whole world
the whole world and his dog
twenty whole dollars
unwholesome
upon the whole
upon the whole matter
whole-ass
whole bag of tricks
whole ball of wax
whole blood
whole-blood coagulation time
whole boiling
whole box of tricks
whole chebang
whole child
whole cloth
whole enchilada
whole food
whole-footed
whole gale
whole-genome duplication
whole-gip
whole gip
whole-grain
whole grain
whole-gyp
whole gyp
whole-handedly
whole-heartedly
whole-heartedness
whole-hearted
wholehearted
whole hog
whole kit and caboodle
whole kit and kaboodle
whole language
whole-length
whole-life
whole-life order
whole life order
whole life tariff
whole lung lavage
wholemeal
whole milk
whole note
whole number
whole package
whole paycheck
Whole Paycheck
whole plate
whole rest
wholesale
wholesaler
whole shebang
whole shitting match
whole shooting match
whole-skinned
whole smash
whole snipe
wholesome
whole-souled
whole step
whole-time
whole-timer
whole tone
whole-tone scale
whole undern
whole-wheat
wholewheat
whole wide world
with whole skin
Translations:
lang: Albanian
word: tërë
lang: Albanian
word: krejt
lang: Arabic
word: كَامِل
roman: kāmil
lang: Arabic
word: كُلّ
roman: kull
lang: Armenian
word: ողջ
roman: oġǰ
lang: Armenian
word: ամբողջ
roman: amboġǰ
lang: Armenian
word: սաղ
roman: saġ
lang: Aromanian
word: ãntreg
lang: Aromanian
word: ntreg
lang: Assamese
word: গোটেই
roman: gütei
lang: Assamese
word: আটাই
roman: atai
lang: Avar
word: сахаб
roman: saxab
lang: Azerbaijani
word: bütöv
lang: Bashkir
word: бөтөн
roman: bötön
lang: Basque
word: oso
lang: Belarusian
word: цэ́лы
roman: cély
lang: Belarusian
word: по́ўны
roman: pówny
lang: Central Bikol
word: bilog
lang: Bulgarian
word: ця́л
roman: cjál
lang: Catalan
word: sencer
lang: Catalan
word: tot
lang: Cherokee
word: ᎬᏩᏃᏍᏓ
roman: gvwanosda
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 整個 /整个
roman: zhěnggè
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 全部
roman: quánbù
lang: Ngazidja Comorian
word: -ontsi
lang: Czech
word: celý
lang: Czech
word: úplný
lang: Old Czech
word: cělý
lang: Dalmatian
word: intric
lang: Danish
word: hel
lang: Dutch
word: heel
lang: Esperanto
word: tuta
lang: Finnish
word: koko
lang: Finnish
word: kokonainen
lang: French
word: entier
lang: French
word: tout
lang: West-Frisian
word: hiel
lang: Friulian
word: intîr
lang: Galician
word: enteiro
lang: Georgian
word: სრული
roman: sruli
lang: Georgian
word: მთელი
roman: mteli
lang: Georgian
word: მთლიანი
roman: mtliani
lang: German
word: ganz
lang: Gothic
word: 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃
roman: alls
lang: Greek
word: ολόκληρος
roman: olókliros
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ὅλος
roman: hólos
lang: Hebrew
word: שלם
roman: shalém
lang: Hebrew
word: תם
roman: tam
lang: Hindi
word: सारा
roman: sārā
lang: Hungarian
word: egész
lang: Hungarian
word: teljes
lang: Icelandic
word: allur
lang: Ido
word: tota
lang: Indonesian
word: seluruh
lang: Indonesian
word: antero
lang: Irish
word: iomlán
lang: Irish
word: go léir
lang: Old Irish
word: óg
lang: Old Irish
word: imlán
lang: Italian
word: intero
lang: Japanese
word: 全体の
roman: zentai no
lang: Kashubian
word: cały
lang: Khmer
word: ទាំងមូល
roman: tĕəng muul
lang: Korean
word: 전체
roman: jeonche
lang: Ladin
word: ntier
lang: Ladin
word: intier
lang: Latin
word: tōtus
lang: Latin
word: integer
lang: Latin
word: universus
lang: Latin
word: cunctus
lang: Latvian
word: viss
lang: Latvian
word: vesels
lang: Lezgi
word: сагъ
roman: saġ
lang: Lithuanian
word: visuminis
lang: Macedonian
word: цел
roman: cel
lang: Malay
word: seluruh
lang: Māori
word: tūtahi
lang: Māori
word: katoa
lang: Norman
word: entchi
lang: Norwegian
word: hel
lang: Occitan
word: entièr
lang: Old Church Slavonic
word: цѣлъ
roman: cělŭ
lang: Old English
word: eall
lang: Old Norse
word: allr
lang: Ossetian
word: ӕгас
roman: ægas
lang: Persian
word: تمام
roman: tamâm
lang: Persian
word: سراسر
roman: sarâsar
lang: Polabian
word: ganz
lang: Polish
word: cały
lang: Portuguese
word: inteiro
lang: Romanian
word: întreg
lang: Romansh
word: entir
lang: Russian
word: це́лый
roman: célyj
lang: Russian
word: це́льный
roman: célʹnyj
lang: Russian
word: це́лостный
roman: célostnyj
lang: Russian
word: по́лный
roman: pólnyj
lang: Russian
word: весь
roman: vesʹ
lang: Sanskrit
word: सर्व
roman: sárva
lang: Sanskrit
word: विश्व
roman: viśva
lang: Sardinian
word: interu
lang: Scots
word: hail
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: це̏о
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: cȅo
lang: Sicilian
word: nteru
lang: Slovak
word: celý
lang: Slovak
word: úplný
lang: Slovene
word: cel
lang: Lower Sorbian
word: ceły
lang: Spanish
word: entero
lang: Swahili
word: -ote
lang: Swahili
word: -zima
lang: Swedish
word: hel
lang: Tabasaran
word: сагъиб
roman: saġib
lang: Tajik
word: тамом
roman: tamom
lang: Telugu
word: మొత్తం
roman: mottaṁ
lang: Tooro
word: -ona
lang: Turkish
word: tam
lang: Turkish
word: tüm
lang: Turkish
word: bütün
lang: Ukrainian
word: ці́лий
roman: cílyj
lang: Ukrainian
word: по́вний
roman: póvnyj
lang: Urdu
word: سارا
roman: sārā
lang: Venetan
word: intier
lang: Venetan
word: intiero
lang: Venetan
word: intrego
lang: Venetan
word: intriego
lang: Vietnamese
word: toàn thể
lang: Vietnamese
word: toàn bộ
lang: Welsh
word: holl
lang: Welsh
word: cyfan
lang: Zazaki
word: pêro (diq)