*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of whole

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos Proto-Germanic *hailaz Proto-West Germanic *hail Old English hāl Middle English hol English whole From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old Engl

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
adj

Entire, undivided. · Used as an intensifier. · Sound, uninjured, healthy. · From which none of its constituents has been removed.

adv

In entirety; entirely; wholly.

noun

Something complete, without any parts missing. · An entirety.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos Proto-Germanic *hailaz Proto-West Germanic *hail Old English hāl Middle English hol English whole 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. Cognates Compare West Frisian hiel, Low German heel/heil, Dutch heel, German heil, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hel, Norwegian Nynorsk heil; also Welsh coel (“omen”), Breton kel (“omen, mention”), Old Prussian kails (“healthy”), Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”). Related to hale, health, hail, hallow, heal, and holy. False cognate of Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

This page abbreviates 1 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:hol<id:whole>",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos\nProto-Germanic *hailaz\nProto-West Germanic *hail\nOld English hāl\nMiddle English hol\nEnglish whole\n[Appendix:Glossary#inherited|Inherited]] from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*hailaz\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*hail\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"hāl\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"hol\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"whole\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"whole\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "whol"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English whol"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "hāl",
        "4": "",
        "5": "healthy, safe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*hail"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *hail"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*hailaz",
        "4": "",
        "5": "whole, safe, sound"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*kéh₂ilos",
        "4": "",
        "5": "healthy, whole"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "m+",
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English"
    },
    {
      "name": "col-top",
      "args": {
        "1": "2",
        "2": "cog"
      },
      "expansion": "Cognates"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "hiel"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian hiel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nds",
        "2": "heel"
      },
      "expansion": "Low German heel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "heel"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch heel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "heil"
      },
      "expansion": "German heil"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nb",
        "2": "hel"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian Bokmål hel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nn",
        "2": "heil"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian Nynorsk heil"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "cy",
        "2": "coel",
        "3": "",
        "4": "omen"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh coel (“omen”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "br",
        "2": "kel",
        "3": "",
        "4": "omen, mention"
      },
      "expansion": "Breton kel (“omen, mention”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "prg",
        "2": "kails",
        "3": "",
        "4": "healthy"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Prussian kails (“healthy”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "cu",
        "2": "цѣлъ",
        "3": "",
        "4": "healthy, unhurt"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Church Slavonic цѣлъ (cělŭ, “healthy, unhurt”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "False cognate"
      },
      "expansion": "False cognate"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "ὅλος",
        "3": "",
        "4": "",
        "lit": "",
        "pos": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": "",
        "id": "",
        "sc": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "sort": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos)"
    },
    {
      "name": "fcog",
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "ὅλος"
      },
      "expansion": "False cognate of Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos)"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:hol<id:whole>",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos\nProto-Germanic *hailaz\nProto-West Germanic *hail\nOld English hāl\nMiddle English hol\nEnglish whole"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*kéh₂ilos",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/kéh₂ilos"
    ],
    [
      "*hailaz",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hailaz#Proto-Germanic:_whole"
    ],
    [
      "*hail",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/hail#Proto-West_Germanic:_whole"
    ],
    [
      "hāl",
      "hal#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "hol",
      "hol#Middle_English:_whole"
    ],
    [
      "whol",
      "whol#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "hol",
      "hol#Middle_English:_whole"
    ],
    [
      "hole",
      "hole#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "hāl",
      "hal#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*hail",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/hail"
    ],
    [
      "*hailaz",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hailaz"
    ],
    [
      "*kéh₂ilos",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/kéh₂ilos"
    ],
    [
      "one",
      "one#English"
    ],
    [
      "whore",
      "whore#English"
    ],
    [
      "hole",
      "hole#English"
    ],
    [
      "hiel",
      "hiel#West_Frisian"
    ],
    [
      "heel",
      "heel#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "heil",
      "heil#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "heel",
      "heel#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "heil",
      "heil#German"
    ],
    [
      "hel",
      "hel#Norwegian_Bokmål"
    ],
    [
      "heil",
      "heil#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
    ],
    [
      "coel",
      "coel#Welsh"
    ],
    [
      "kel",
      "kel#Breton"
    ],
    [
      "kails",
      "kails#Old_Prussian"
    ],
    [
      "цѣлъ",
      "цѣлъ#Old_Church_Slavonic"
    ],
    [
      "hale",
      "hale"
    ],
    [
      "health",
      "health"
    ],
    [
      "hail",
      "hail"
    ],
    [
      "hallow",
      "hallow"
    ],
    [
      "heal",
      "heal"
    ],
    [
      "holy",
      "holy"
    ],
    [
      "ὅλος",
      "ὅλος#Ancient_Greek"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Entire, undivided.",
        "Used as an intensifier.",
        "Sound, uninjured, healthy.",
        "From which none of its constituents has been removed."
      ],
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    {
      "pos": "adv",
      "glosses": [
        "In entirety; entirely; wholly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ],
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    },
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Something complete, without any parts missing.",
        "An entirety."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 1,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for whole →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-d2hvbGU