whole

English Online Dictionary. What means whole‎? What does whole mean?

English

Alternative forms

• hole (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English 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-, introduced in the 15th century, represents a pronunciation with an excrescent /w/ that failed to survive in the standard language (compare one, whore).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həʊl/, [həʊɫ], [hɒʊɫ]
• (US) IPA^(key): /hoʊl/, [hoʊɫ]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [hoːɫ]
• (Early Modern) IPA^(key): /hɔːl/, /hwɔːl/
• Homophone: hole
• Rhymes: -əʊl

Adjective

whole (comparative wholer or more whole, superlative wholest or most whole)

1. Entire, undivided.

   Synonyms: total; see also Thesaurus:entire

   1. Used as an intensifier.

      I brought a whole lot of balloons for the party.   She ate a whole bunch of french fries.
2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.

   Synonyms: hale, well; see also Thesaurus:healthy
3. (of food) From which none of its constituents has been removed.

4. (mining) As yet unworked.

Translations

Adverb

whole (comparative more whole, superlative most whole)

1. (colloquial) In entirety; entirely; wholly.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely

Translations

Noun

whole (plural wholes)

1. Something complete, without any parts missing.

   Synonyms: entireness, totality; see also Thesaurus:entirety

   Meronym: part

2. An entirety.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• “whole”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• All and whole — Linguapress online English grammar

Anagrams

• Howle, howel