Healthy vs. Healthful

How to use "healthy" and "healthful" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

Healthy is traditionally used to describe one’s state of health:

healthy children
healthy teeth

Healthful is used to describe something that promotes good health, and even today it should not be used to describe one’s state of health:

healthful children
healthful teeth

healthful diet
healthy diet

The second example above, “healthy diet,” is acceptable in contemporary usage but considered incorrect by some traditionalists, who feel that healthy should not be used as a synonym for healthful.

Related Resources

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage

List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version

© 2006, 2008, and 2019 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.