Meanings
plural harms · alternative harme
- countableuncountableEmotional or figurative hurt.
Although not physically injured in the car accident, she received some psychological harm.
1 more example
And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC - countableuncountableThat which causes injury, damage, or loss.
We, ignorant of ourselves, / Beg often our own harms.
c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo damage, hurt, or injure something, usually an inanimate object.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.; the condition of an injury
nounthe occurrence of a change for the worse
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*harmaz“harm; shame; pain”
- Proto-West Germanic*harm
- Old Englishhearm
- Middle Englishharm
- Englishharm
From Middle English harm, herm, from Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm, from Proto-Germanic *harmaz (“harm; shame; pain”). Cognate with Dutch harm (“harm”), German Harm (“harm”), Danish harme (“indignation, resentment”), Icelandic harmur (“sorrow, grief”), Swedish harm (“anger, indignation, harm”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans skade, beskadig
- skadeinjury; hurt; damage
- beskadigcause damage
Ancient Greek βλάπτω
- βλάπτω (bláptō)cause damage
Arabic ضَرَر, ضَرَّ أَضَرَّ
- ضَرَر (ḍarar)injury; hurt; damage
- ضَرَّ أَضَرَّ (ḍarra)cause damage
Basque zauri, kalte
- zauriinjury; hurt; damage
- kalteinjury; hurt; damage
Bengali সদমা
- সদমা (śodoma)injury; hurt; damage
Bulgarian вреда, пакост
- вреда (vreda)injury; hurt; damage
- пакост (pakost)injury; hurt; damage
- зло (zlo)that which causes injury, damage, or loss
- увреждам (uvreždam)cause damage
Catalan dany, mal
- danyinjury; hurt; damage
- malthat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- danyarcause damage
Chinese Mandarin 損害 /损害, 損害 /损害
- 損害 /损害 (sǔnhài)injury; hurt; damage
- 損害 /损害 (sǔnhài)cause damage
Czech poškození
- poškozeníinjury; hurt; damage
Danish skade, skade
- skadeinjury; hurt; damage
- skadecause damage
Dutch schade, schaden
- schadeinjury; hurt; damage
- schadencause damage
- beschadigencause damage
Esperanto malbono, damaĝo
- malbonoinjury; hurt; damage
- damaĝoinjury; hurt; damage
- malutilodetriment; misfortune
- damaĝicause damage
Estonian kahju
- kahjuinjury; hurt; damage
Finnish vahinko, vahinko
- vahinkoinjury; hurt; damage
- vahinkothat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- haittathat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- vahingoittaacause damage
French mal, tort
- malinjury; hurt; damage
- tortinjury; hurt; damage
- dommageinjury; hurt; damage
- nuire àcause damage
- faire du mal àcause damage
German Schaden, schaden
- Schadeninjury; hurt; damage
- schadencause damage
Greek βλάβη, βλάπτω
- βλάβη (vlávi)injury; hurt; damage
- βλάπτω (vlápto)cause damage
Hawaiian māino, pōpilikia
- māinoinjury; hurt; damage
- pōpilikiainjury; hurt; damage
Hebrew נזק, הזיק
- נזק (nézek)injury; hurt; damage
- הזיק (hizík)cause damage
Hindi चोट, घाव
- चोट (coṭ)injury; hurt; damage
- घाव (ghāv)injury; hurt; damage
- अपकार (apkār)injury; hurt; damage
Hungarian ártalom, árt
- ártalominjury; hurt; damage
- ártcause damage
Icelandic skaði
- skaðiinjury; hurt; damage
Irish dochar, díobháil
- docharinjury; hurt; damage
- díobháilinjury; hurt; damage
- anachaininjury; hurt; damage
- urchóidinjury; hurt; damage
- déan dochar docause damage
- déan díobháil docause damage
Italian danno, male
- dannoinjury; hurt; damage
- maleinjury; hurt; damage
- feritainjury; hurt; damage
- dannothat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- svantaggiothat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- danneggiarecause damage
- ferirecause damage
- far malecause damage
- nuocerecause damage
Japanese 害する, そこなう
- 害する (gai-suru)cause damage
- そこなう (sokonau)cause damage
- 痛める (ita-meru)cause damage
Korean 해, 해치다
- 해 (hae)injury; hurt; damage
- 해치다 (haechida)cause damage
Latin noxa, noxia
- noxainjury; hurt; damage
- noxiainjury; hurt; damage
- noceōcause damage
Latvian bojājums, ievainojums
- bojājumsinjury; hurt; damage
- ievainojumsinjury; hurt; damage
- kaitējumsinjury; hurt; damage
- kaitētcause damage
- bojātcause damage
Malay mudarat, keburukan
- mudaratinjury; hurt; damage
- keburukaninjury; hurt; damage
Māori whakatūroro, whakahauā
- whakatūrorocause damage
- whakahauācause damage
- whakakinocause damage
Persian آسیب
- آسیب (âsib)injury; hurt; damage
Polish szkoda, krzywda
- szkodainjury; hurt; damage
- krzywdainjury; hurt; damage
- krzywdzićcause damage
- uszkadzaćcause damage
Portuguese dano, mal
- danoinjury; hurt; damage
- malinjury; hurt; damage
- malthat which causes injury, damage, or loss
- ferircause damage
- fazer malcause damage
- afligircause damage
- machucarcause damage
Romanian vătăma, strica
- vătămacause damage
- stricacause damage
- dăunacause damage
Russian вред, уще́рб
- вред (vred)injury; hurt; damage
- уще́рб (uščérb)injury; hurt; damage
- поврежде́ние (povreždénije)injury; hurt; damage
- вреди́ть (vredítʹ)cause damage
- повреди́ть (povredítʹ)cause damage
- навреди́ть (navredítʹ)cause damage
Scottish Gaelic mill, cuir cron air
- millcause damage
- cuir cron aircause damage
Slovak poškodenie, raniť
- poškodenieinjury; hurt; damage
- raniťcause damage
- škodiťcause damage
Spanish daño, dañar
- dañoinjury; hurt; damage
- dañarcause damage
Swedish skada
- skadacause damage
Tamil கெடுதல், நாசம்
- கெடுதல் (keṭutal)injury; hurt; damage
- நாசம் (nācam)injury; hurt; damage
- நஷ்டம் (naṣṭam)injury; hurt; damage
Thai ความเสียหาย, ทำร้าย
- ความเสียหาย (kwaam-sǐia-hǎai)injury; hurt; damage
- ทำร้าย (tam-ráai)cause damage
Turkish zarar, hasar
- zararinjury; hurt; damage
- hasarinjury; hurt; damage
- ziyaninjury; hurt; damage
- incinmeinjury; hurt; damage
Ukrainian шко́да, шко́дити
- шко́да (škóda)injury; hurt; damage
- шко́дити (škódyty)cause damage
- нашко́дити (naškódyty)cause damage
- завдава́ти шко́ди (zavdaváty škódy)cause damage
- завда́ти шко́ди (zavdáty škódy)cause damage
Vietnamese hại, làm hại
- hạiinjury; hurt; damage
- làm hạicause damage
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with harm
Anagrams
Cite this entry
harm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harm
“harm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “harm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harm.
Source: harm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.