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Added 5 October 2026

whole

/həʊl/ adjective

In Latin: tōtus, integer, universus Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about whole at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Entire, undivided.
I ate a whole fish.
Used as an intensifier.
I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party. She ate a whole bunch of french fries.
Sound, uninjured, healthy.
He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state.

adverb

In entirety; entirely; wholly.
I ate a fish whole!

noun

Something complete, without any parts missing.
This variety of fascinating details didn't fall together into an enjoyable, coherent whole.
An entirety.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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