harmful

Alternative forms

harmfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfullīċ (“harmful; hurtful”)), equivalent to harm +‎ -ful.

Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːmfl̩/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/
Audio (US): (file)

Adjective

harmful (comparative harmfuller or more harmful, superlative harmfullest or most harmful)

Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

Smoking is harmful to the lungs.

Burning fossil fuels is harmful to the environment.

Synonyms

injurious; see also Thesaurus:harmful

Antonyms

Derived terms

Collocations

with nouns

harmful effect
harmful consequence
harmful impact
harmful influence
harmful emission
harmful chemical
harmful ingredient
harmful substance
harmful gas
harmful agent
harmful additive
harmful drug
harmful radiation
harmful dust
harmful organism
harmful plant
harmful animal
harmful insect
harmful action
harmful act
harmful behavior
harmful component
harmful content
harmful activity
harmful interference
harmful use

Translations

likely to be damaging

Arabic: ضَارّ (ḍārr), مُضِرّ (muḍirr)
Armenian: վնասակար (hy) (vnasakar), վնասաբեր (hy) (vnasaber)
Asturian: dañible (ast), malín (ast), nocivu (ast)
Azerbaijani: zərərli, ziyankar
Belarusian: шко́дны (škódny), шкоднасны (škódnasny), шкадлі́вы (škadlívy)
Bengali: ক্ষতিকর (bn) (khotikor), ক্ষতিকারক (bn) (khotikarok)
Bulgarian: вреден (bg) (vreden), пакостен (bg) (pakosten)
Catalan: nociu (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 有害 (zh) (yǒuhài), 不良 (zh) (bùliáng)
Czech: škodlivý (cs)
Danish: skadelig (da)
Dutch: schadelijk (nl)
Finnish: vahingollinen (fi), haitallinen (fi)
French: dangereux (fr), nuisible (fr), nocif (fr), préjudiciable (fr)
Galician: perxudicial
Georgian: საზიანო (saziano), მავნე (mavne)
German: schädlich (de)
Greek:
Ancient: βλαπτικός (blaptikós), δηλητήριος (dēlētḗrios)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: káros (hu), kártékony (hu)
Icelandic: skaðlegur (is)
Indonesian: berbahaya (id)
Ingrian: vrednoi
Irish: aimhleasach, biniúil, damáisteach, díobhálach, dochrach, éigineáil, mímhaitheasach, olc, olcach, urchóideach
Italian: dannoso (it), nocivo (it)
Japanese: 有害な (ja) (ゆうがいな, yūgai-na)
Javanese: mbebayani
Korean: 해로운 (haeroun), 유해한 (yuhaehan)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: ziyanbexş (ku)
Latin: nocuus, noxius
Macedonian: штетен (šteten)
Malay: berbahaya
Maori: whakakino, whakawhara
Norman: niêsibl'ye (Jersey)
Norwegian: skadelig (no)
Persian: مضر (fa)
Plautdietsch: schätlich
Polish: szkodliwy (pl)
Portuguese: prejudicial (pt), nocivo (pt), danoso (pt), daninho (pt)
Romanian: nociv (ro), prejudiciabil (ro), dăunător (ro), vătămător (ro), păgubitor (ro), stricător (ro)
Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj), вредоно́сный (ru) (vredonósnyj), зловре́дный (ru) (zlovrédnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: шко̀дљив, шко̏дан, ште̏тан

Roman: škòdljiv (sh), škȍdan (sh), štȅtan (sh)
Slovak: škodlivý (sk)
Slovene: škodljiv
Spanish: perjudicial (es), dañino (es), nocivo (es), dañoso (es)
Swedish: skadlig (sv)
Tagalog: mapaminsala, nakapipinsala, nakasisira, nakasasama
Telugu: హానికరమైన (te) (hānikaramaina)
Turkish: zararlı (tr)
Turkmen: zyýanly (tk)
Ukrainian: шкідли́вий (škidlývyj), вадли́вий (uk) (vadlývyj)
Urdu: مضر