unhealthy

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ healthy.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈhɛl.θi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlθi

Adjective

unhealthy (comparative unhealthier or more unhealthy, superlative unhealthiest or most unhealthy)

1. characterized by, or conducive to poor health

   The villagers lived in unhealthy surroundings.

   • 2024 September 5, Alice Callahan, “Are Some Ultraprocessed Foods Worse Than Others?”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     It makes up an estimated 73 percent of the U.S. food supply, and contains stereotypically “unhealthy” products like sodas, candies and hot dogs as well as seemingly “healthy” ones like whole grain breads, breakfast cereals, flavored yogurts and plant milks.

2. sick or ill

   He was an unhealthy child.

   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 39:

     ‘And at once he'll be on his high-horse – he knows everything! – and he'll prove, prove, that all unhealthy children must be lethal-chambered or the world will go to pieces.’

3. tending to corrupt

   He liked unhealthy reading material.

4. characterized by disturbed mental health

   He had an unhealthy interest in fire.

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:diseased

Antonyms

• healthy

Translations

conducive to poor health

• Arabic: غَيْر صِحِّيّ (ḡayr ṣiḥḥiyy)
• Armenian: վատառողջ (hy) (vataṙoġǰ)
• Belarusian: шкадлі́вы (škadlívy), шко́дны (škódny), нездаро́вы (njezdaróvy)
• Bulgarian: вре́ден (bg) (vréden), нездраавословен (nezdraavosloven)
• Catalan: insalubre (ca)
• Czech: nezdravý m
• Dutch: ongezond (nl)
• Esperanto: malsana
• Estonian: ebatervislik
• Finnish: epäterveellinen (fi)
• French: malsain (fr), mauvais pour la santé
• German: ungesund (de), gesundheitsschädlich (de)
• Greek: νοσηρός (el) (nosirós), ανθυγιεινός (el) (anthygieinós)
• Hungarian: egészségtelen (hu)
• Ingrian: vrednoi
• Italian: malsano (it), insalubre (it)
• Latin: aeger (la), aegrotus
• Luxembourgish: ongesond
• Polish: niezdrowy (pl)
• Portuguese: insalubre (pt)
• Romanian: nesănătos (ro)
• Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj) (для здоро́вья), нездоро́вый (ru) (nezdoróvyj)
• Slovak: nezdravý
• Swedish: ohälsosam (sv), hälsovådlig (sv)
• Turkish: sağlıksız (tr)
• Ukrainian: шкідли́вий (škidlývyj), нездоро́вий (nezdoróvyj)
• Welsh: afiach (cy)

characterized by disturbed mental health

• Azerbaijani: qeyri-sağlam
• Russian: нездоро́вый (ru) (nezdoróvyj)
• Swedish: osund (sv), sjuklig (sv)

sick or ill — see sick,‎ ill