heal

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb heal or recover
  2. verb get healthy again
  3. verb provide a cure for, make healthy again

Etymology

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 *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). Derived from the adjective at hand in whole. 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”), and further Russian цели́ть (celítʹ, “to heal”), Polish calić (“to save”), Czech celit (“to heal”), Serbo-Croatian céliti (“to heal”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

mend

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