heal

See also: Heal

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hiːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophones: heel, he'll, hill (in some accents)

Etymology 1

From Middle English helen, hilen, from Old English helan (“to conceal, cover, hide”), from Proto-Germanic *helaną (“to hide, stash”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate with helmet, Scots heal (“to cover, hide, conceal, keep secret”), Dutch helen (“to conceal”), German hehlen (“to conceal”), Swedish häla (“hide”) and hälare (“fence”) (peddler of stolen goods), Latin cēlō (“conceal”). Related to hole, hull.

Alternative forms

• hele, heel
• heil (Scotland)

Verb

heal (third-person singular simple present heals, present participle healing, simple past hole or healed, past participle holen or healed)

1. (transitive, obsolete or dialectal) To hide; conceal; keep secret.
2. (transitive) To cover, as for protection.

Etymology 2

From Middle English helen, from Old English hǣlan (“to heal, cure, save, greet, salute”), from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną (“to heal, make whole, save”), from Proto-Indo-European *koyl- (“safe, unharmed”). Cognate with Scots hale, hail (“to heal”), Saterland Frisian heila, heilen (“to heal”), West Frisian hielje, Dutch helen (“to heal”), German heilen (“to heal”), Danish hele, Swedish hela (“to heal”). More at whole.

Verb

heal (third-person singular simple present heals, present participle healing, simple past and past participle healed)

1. (transitive) To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure.

   This bandage will heal your cut.

   • Bible, Matthew viii. 8

     Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

2. (intransitive) To become better.

   Bandages allow cuts to heal.

3. To reconcile, as a breach or difference; to make whole; to free from guilt.

   to heal dissensions

Synonyms

• (make better): cure, make whole
• (become better): get better, recover

Derived terms

Terms derived from heal

• allheal, all-heal
• healable

• healand
• healee

• healer
• health

Translations

make better

• Albanian: shëroj (sq), kuroj (sq)
• Arabic: شَفَى‎‎ (šafā)
• Armenian: բուժել (hy) (bužel)
• Aromanian: vindic
• Belarusian: лячы́ць impf (ljačýcʹ), вы́лечыць pf (výlječycʹ)
• Bulgarian: леку̀вам (bg) impf (lekùvam), церя́ (bg) impf (cerjá)
• Catalan: curar (ca), guarir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 醫治 (zh), 医治 (zh) (yīzhì)

• Czech: léčit (cs) impf, vyléčit (cs) pf
• Dalmatian: medcur
• Dutch: genezen (nl), helen (nl), beter maken
• Finnish: parantaa (fi)
• French: guérir (fr), assainir (fr)
• Georgian: განკურნება (ganḳurneba), შეხორცება (šexorceba), მოკეთება (moḳeteba)
• German: heilen (de)
• Greek: θεραπεύω (el) (therapévo)

  Ancient: ἰάομαι (iáomai), θεραπεύω (therapeúō)

• Hebrew: שיפר‎‎ (shipér)
• Hungarian: gyógyít (hu)
• Ido: risanigar (io)
• Irish: cneasaigh
• Italian: guarire (it), sanare (it)
• Japanese: 癒す (いやす, iyasu), 治す (ja) (なおす, naosu)
• Latin: sano (la), medico (la), curo (la), medeor (la), salvo
• Luxembourgish: heelen

• Macedonian: лекува impf (lekuva)
• Maori: whakamahu, haumanu, whakareka
• Norwegian: hele (no), kurere

  Bokmål: helbrede

• Old Church Slavonic: лѣчити (lěčiti)
• Persian: درمان کردن‎‎ (fa) (darmân kardan), شفا دادن‎‎ (šafâ dâdan), بهبود دادن‎‎ (behbud dâdan)
• Polish: uzdrawiać (pl) impf, uzdrowić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: curar (pt), sanar, sarar (pt)
• Quechua: allinyachiy, hampiy
• Romanian: vindeca (ro)
• Russian: лечи́ть (ru) impf (lečítʹ), вы́лечить (ru) pf (výlečitʹ), излечи́ть (ru) pf (izlečítʹ), исцеля́ть (ru) impf (isceljátʹ), исцели́ть (ru) pf (iscelítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ле́чити impf, лије́чити impf, изле́чити pf, лије́чити impf, излије́чити pf, це́лити impf, исце́лити pf, ције́лити impf, исције́лити pf, исцељи́вати impf, исцјељи́вати impf

  Roman: léčiti (sh) impf, liječiti (sh) impf, izléčiti (sh) pf, izlijéčiti pf, céliti (sh) impf, iscéliti pf, cijéliti (sh) impf, iscijéliti (sh) pf, isceljívati (sh) impf, iscjeljívati (sh) impf

• Slovak: liečiť impf, vyliečiť pf
• Slovene: lečiti
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gójś impf, wustrowiś pf

• Spanish: curar (es), sanar (es)
• Swahili: kuponya
• Swedish: läka (sv)
• Turkish: iyileştirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: лікува́ти impf (likuváty), ви́лікувати pf (výlikuvaty), зцілюва́ти (zciljuváty), зціли́ти (zcilýty)
• Westrobothnian: hail, häli
• Yiddish: היילן‎‎ (heyln)

become better

• Arabic: شُفِيَ‎‎ (šufiya)
• Bulgarian: зараствам (рана) (zarastvam (rana)), излекувам се (izlekuvam se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愈合 (zh) (yùhé)

• Finnish: parantua (fi)
• French: guérir (fr)
• Georgian: მოკეთება (moḳeteba)
• German: verheilen (de), heilen (de)
• Greek: αναρρώνω (el) (anarróno)
• Hebrew: השתפר‎‎ (hishtapér)
• Hungarian: gyógyul (hu)
• Irish: cneasaigh

• Japanese: 治る (ja) (なおる, naoru)
• Latin: corrigo, sano (la), medico (la), curo (la), medeor (la), persano, salvo, persano (perfectly)
• Luxembourgish: heelen
• Norwegian: bli frisk
• Portuguese: sarar (pt)
• Russian: зажива́ть (ru) impf (zaživátʹ), зажи́ть (ru) pf (zažítʹ)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: žyś impf

• Swedish: läka (sv)
• Turkish: iyileşmek (tr)
• Westrobothnian: hailes

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} guarir (ca)
• Czech: ^{(please verify)} hojit
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} helen (nl), ^{(please verify)} genezen (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} guérir (fr), ^{(please verify)} traiter (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} heilen (de)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} guarire (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 治す (ja) (なおす, naosu), ^{(please verify)} 治る (ja) (なおる, naoru), ^{(please verify)} 癒す (いやす, iyasu), ^{(please verify)} 癒える (いえる, ieru), ^{(please verify)} 治療する (ちりょうする, chiryou suru), ^{(please verify)} 治癒する (ちゆする, chiyu suru)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 痊癒 (zh), ^{(please verify)} 痊愈 (zh) (quanyu), ^{(please verify)} 治癒 (zh), ^{(please verify)} 治愈 (zh) (zhiyu), ^{(please verify)} 癒合 (zh), ^{(please verify)} 愈合 (zh) (yuhe)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} شفا دادن، شفا یافتن، بهبود پیدا کردن، بهبود یافتن، خوب شدن‎‎
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} curar (es)

Noun

heal (countable and uncountable, plural heals)

1. (role-playing games, countable) A spell or ability that restores hit points or removes a status ailment.
   • 2004, Computer Gaming World (volumes 234-237, page 81)

     Also, various interesting spells have been added—for instance, with the Orb spell, you can circle a character, firing offensive bolts or casting heals, and free up a mage-type to cast other spells or even melee.

   • 2009, Paul Emmerich, Beginning Lua with World of Warcraft Add-ons (page 351)

     The following macro checks whether our current target is friendly and casts a heal on it if so; otherwise it casts the heal on the target's target […]

   • 2012, Constance Steinkuehler, ‎Kurt Squire, ‎Sasha Barab, Games, Learning, and Society

     Synner, a priest walking by, sees her struggling and casts a heal on her.

2. (obsolete, uncountable) health

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

Anagrams

• Hale, Hela, Leah, hale

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Estonian

Adjective

heal

1. adessive singular of hea

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Scots

Noun

heal (uncountable)

1. health

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian half, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz. Compare English half, Dutch half, German halb, Danish halv.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɪːl/

Adjective

heal

1. half