harmless
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English harmles, from Old English *hearmlēas, from Proto-Germanic *harmalausaz (“without harm; harmless”), equivalent to harm + -less.
Cognate with German harmlos (“harmless”), Danish harmløs (“harlmess”), Swedish harmlös (“harmless”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈhɑːmləs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhɑɹmləs/
Audio (US): (file)
Adjective
[edit]harmless (comparative more harmless, superlative most harmless)
- Incapable of causing harm or danger; safe.
- Not intended to harm; inoffensive.
- 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
- The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?
- (obsolete) Unharmed.
Synonyms
[edit]Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]incapable of causing harm or danger
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Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
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- English terms suffixed with -less
- English 2-syllable words
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