heal

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, from Old English hǣlan (“to heal, cure, save, greet, salute”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailijan, from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną (“to heal, make whole, save”), from Proto-Indo-European *koyl- (“safe, unharmed”).

Cognates

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 help to heal your cut.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 8:8:

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

2. (intransitive) To become better or healthy again.

   Bandages allow cuts to heal.

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

   to heal dissensions

   • 1945, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations, Global Alphabet: Hearing Before the Committee... (page 69)

     English spelling, although unphonetic and antiphonetic, was inherited from our ancestors and has served magnificently in the glorious past. The weak spot in English spelling, however, can be easily healed with the global alphabet.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• allheal, all-heal
• crystal healing
• healable
• healand
• healee
• healer
• healing crisis
• healing lodge
• heal over
• health
• heal up
• horseheal
• overheal
• physician, heal thyself
• reheal
• self-heal
• spiritual healing
• time heals all wounds
• underheal

 

Translations

make better

Albanian: ngjallë, shëroj (sq), Arabic: شَفَى‎ (šafā) Armenian: բուժել (hy) (bužel) Aromanian: vindic Azerbaijani: sağaltmaq (az) Belarusian: лячы́ць impf (ljačýcʹ), вы́лечыць pf (výlječycʹ) Bulgarian: леку́вам (bg) impf (lekúvam), излеку́вам (bg) pf (izlekúvam), церя́ (bg) impf (cerjá), изцеря́вам (bg) pf (izcerjávam) Catalan: guarir (ca), curar (ca), remeiar (ca); cicatritzar (ca) (una ferida) Chinese: Mandarin: 醫治／医治 (zh) (yīzhì) Czech: léčit (cs) impf, vyléčit (cs) pf, uzdravit 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) Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hailjan) Greek: θεραπεύω (el) (therapévo) Ancient: ἰάομαι (iáomai), θεραπεύω (therapeúō) Hebrew: שיפר \\ שִׁפֵּר‎ (shipér) Hungarian: gyógyít (hu), meggyógyít (hu), begyógyít Ido: risanigar (io) Irish: cneasaigh Italian: guarire (it), sanare (it) Japanese: 癒す (ja) (いやす, iyasu), 治す (ja) (なおす, naosu) Khmer: បន្សះ (km) (bɑnsah), ផ្សះ (km) (phsah) Korean: 치료하다 (ko) (chiryohada), 고치다 (ko) (gochida) Latin: sano (la), medico (la), curo (la), medeor (la), salvo Luxembourgish: heelen Macedonian: лечи impf (leči), излечи pf (izleči), лекува impf (lekuva), излекува pf (izlekuva) Maori: whakamahu, haumanu, whakareka, whakaoraora, whakamātūtū Norwegian: hele (no), kurere Bokmål: helbrede (no) Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: лѣчити impf (lěčiti) Persian: درمان کردن‎ (fa) (darmân kardan), شفا دادن‎ (šafâ dâdan), بهبود دادن‎ (behbud dâdan) Piedmontese: sané Polish: leczyć (pl) impf, wyleczyć (pl) pf, uzdrawiać (pl) impf, uzdrowić (pl) pf Portuguese: curar (pt), sanar (pt), 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) Sanskrit: भिषक्ति (bhiṣakti) 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: zdraviti impf, ozdraviti pf, pozdraviti (sl) pf 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: зара́ствам impf (zarástvam) (of wounds), излеку́вам се (bg) pf (izlekúvam se) Catalan: guarir-se, posar-se bo, sanar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 愈合 (zh) (yùhé) Esperanto: resaniĝi Finnish: parantua (fi) French: guérir (fr) Georgian: მოკეთება (moḳeteba) German: verheilen (de), heilen (de), abheilen (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gahailnan) Greek: αναρρώνω (el) (anarróno) Hebrew: השתפר‎ (hishtapér) Hungarian: gyógyul (hu), meggyógyul (hu) Irish: cneasaigh Japanese: 治る (ja) (なおる, naoru) Korean: 치료되다 (ko) (chiryodoeda), 낫다 (ko) (natda) Latin: corrigo, sano (la), medico (la), curo (la), medeor (la), persano, salvo, persano (perfectly) Luxembourgish: heelen Maori: tumahu, mātūtū Norwegian: bli frisk Portuguese: sarar (pt) Romanian: se vindeca Russian: зажива́ть (ru) impf (zaživátʹ), зажи́ть (ru) pf (zažítʹ), зараста́ть (ru) impf (zarastátʹ), зарасти́ (ru) pf (zarastí) (to skin over (of a wound)) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: žyś impf Spanish: curarse, curar (es), sanar (es), cicatrizar (es) Swedish: läka (sv) Turkish: iyileşmek (tr) Westrobothnian: hailes

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Czech: (please verify) hojit Dutch: (please verify) helen (nl), (please verify) genezen (nl) French: (please verify) guérir (fr), (please verify) traiter (fr) Japanese: (please verify) 治す (ja) (なおす, naosu), (please verify) 治る (ja) (なおる, naoru), (please verify) 癒す (ja) (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／痊愈 (zh), (please verify) 痊愈 (zh) (quanyu), (please verify) 治癒／治愈 (zh), (please verify) 治愈 (zh) (zhiyu), (please verify) 癒合／愈合 (zh), (please verify) 愈合 (zh) (yuhe) Persian: (please verify) شفا دادن، شفا یافتن، بهبود پیدا کردن، بهبود یافتن، خوب شدن‎

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?)

Etymology 2

See hele.

Verb

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

1. (rare) Alternative form of hele (“conceal”).
   • 1907, John. H. Brownell, Arthur Maurice Smith, Joseph E. Morcombe, The American Tyler-Keystone: Devoted to Freemasonry, page 6:

     "Heal, conceal and keep secret."

   • 1998, Clive Richardson, The Horse Breakers, page 212:

     'I swear before God and all these witnesses that I will always heal, conceal and never reveal any art or part of this secret of horsemanry which is to be revealed to me at this time or any other time hereafter.'

   • 2015, Lee Morgan, The Bones Would Do: Book Two of the Christopher Penrose Novels:

     The man in black asked Christopher for the secret passwords he'd been given and he answered correctly. As soon as he had, Christopher felt the point of a blade at his throat. “Do you swear to heal, conceal and never reveal the secrets of the witching arts for all your days […] ?"

Anagrams

• Aleh, Hale, Hela, Leah, hale

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Estonian

Adjective

heal

1. adessive singular of hea

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Scots

Etymology

From Old English hǣlth, from or related to Proto-West Germanic *hail.

Noun

heal (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) health

References

• “heal” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian half, from Proto-West Germanic *halb, from Proto-Germanic *halbaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɪə̯l/

Adjective

heal

1. half

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• “heal”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

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Yola

Noun

heal

1. Alternative form of heale

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 45