Healthful means "promoting good health"; healthy means "possessing good health."
She has a healthy heart because of her healthful diet.
(From Write for Business, page 232, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 44)
Write for Business - Blog
UpWrite Press understands the importance of writing skills in business: We're business people just like you. On this blog you'll find tips to improve your writing, along with topics of interest to our staff.
Letters Standard English Business Writing Writing Numbers Revising Richer Writing Training Right Word Grammar Tim Kemper Publishing Lois Krenzke Spelling Lester Smith Parallelism Dave Kemper Capitalizing Rob King Parts of Speech Organizing Prewriting Punctuation Abbreviations Communication climactic E-Mail Writing Process climatic Editing Forming Plurals Joyce Lee Sentence Style Business Plan Drafting Sentence Errors Sentence Length Correct Sentences Modifiers
Using the Right Word: healthful, healthy
Monday, February 22, 2010
© 2011 UpWrite Press. Legal Notice.
P.O. Box 460 • Burlington, WI 53105 U.S.A. • Ph: 1-800-261-0637 • Fax: 262-763-2651
Member Organizations
Comments
The Oxford English Dictionary reports that healthy has been used in both senses since its appearance in the middle of the 16th century. Healthful is even older, and has meant both "promoting health" and "possessing health" for centuries — though the latter sense is now admittedly rare.
We appreciate your having taken time to comment and applaud the support you provided for your statement. Thanks again.