harmless

English

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːmləs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹmləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

harmless (comparative more harmless, superlative most harmless)

1. Incapable of causing harm or danger; safe.
2. 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?

3. (obsolete) Unharmed.

Synonyms

• benign
• innocent
• innocuous
• undamaging

Antonyms

• harmful

Derived terms

• harmlessly
• harmlessness
• hold harmless
• save harmless

Translations

incapable of causing harm or danger

• Azerbaijani: zərərsiz
• Belarusian: няшко́дны (njaškódny), бясшко́дны (bjasškódny)
• Bulgarian: безвре́ден (bg) (bezvréden), безоби́ден (bg) (bezobíden)
• Catalan: inofensiu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無害 / 无害 (zh) (wúhài)

• Czech: neškodný (cs) m
• Dutch: ongevaarlijk (nl), onschadelijk (nl)
• Finnish: harmiton (fi)
• French: inoffensif (fr)
• German: harmlos (de), unschädlich (de), ungefährlich (de)
• Hungarian: ártalmatlan (hu)
• Icelandic: meinlaus
• Irish: neamhdhíobhálach, neamhurchóideach
• Japanese: 無害な (ja) (むがいな, mugai na)
• Kazakh: зарарсыз (zararsyz)
• Korean: 무해의 (ko) (muhae'ui)
• Latin: innocuus
• Manx: oney (of person), meenieuagh (of insect, reptile)
• Maori: māhaki
• Norman: innoffensif
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: harmløs

• Ottoman Turkish: ضررسز (zararsız), زیانسز (ziyansız)
• Polish: nieszkodliwy (pl) m
• Portuguese: inofensivo (pt) m
• Romanian: nevătămător, inofensiv (ro)
• Russian: безвре́дный (ru) (bezvrédnyj), безоби́дный (ru) (bezobídnyj)
• Slovak: neškodný
• Spanish: inocuo (es), inofensivo (es), benigno (es)
• Swedish: ofarlig (sv)
• Turkish: zararsız (tr)
• Turkmen: zyýansyz (tk)
• Ukrainian: нешкідли́вий (neškidlývyj)
• Welsh: diniwed (cy)