harm

See also: Harm

English

Alternative forms

• harme (obsolete)

Etymology

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”), Swedish harm (“anger, indignation, harm”), Icelandic harmur (“sorrow, grief”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɑːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɑɹm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m

Noun

harm (countable and uncountable, plural harms)

1. Physical injury; hurt; damage.

   No harm came to my possessions.

   You can do a lot of harm to someone if you kick them in the teeth.

2. Emotional or figurative hurt.

   Although not physically injured in the car accident, she received some psychological harm.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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.

3. Detriment; misfortune.

   I wish him no harm.

4. That which causes injury, damage, or loss.
   • 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]:

     We, ignorant of ourselves, / Beg often our own harms.

Usage notes

Collocations

Adjectives often applied to "harm": bodily, physical, environmental, emotional, financial, serious, irreparable, potential, long-term, short-term, permanent, redressable, lasting, material, substantial.

Translations

injury; hurt; damage

• Afar: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: skade (af)
• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} dëm m
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: ضَرَرٌ (ar) m (ḍararun)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: վնաս (hy) (vnas)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: dañu m
• Aymara: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: zərər (az)
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: zauri, kalte (eu)
• Belarusian: шко́да f (škóda)
• Bengali: সদমা (śodoma)
• Bhojpuri: नुकसान (nukᵊsān)
• Bikol Central: uragan (bcl)
• Breton: droug (br) m
• Bulgarian: вреда (bg) f (vreda), пакост (bg) f (pakost)
• Catalan: dany (ca) m
• Chamorro: dañu
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 損害 / 损害 (zh) (sǔnhài)

• Corsican: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: poškození (cs) n
• Danish: skade (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: schade (nl) m
• Esperanto: damaĝo
• Estonian: kahju (et)
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: skaði
• Finnish: vahinko (fi)
• French: mal (fr) m, tort (fr) m, dommage (fr) m
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: dano (gl) m
• Georgian: ზიანი (ziani), ზარალი (zarali), ვნება (vneba)
• German: Schaden (de) m
• Greek: βλάβη (el) f (vlávi)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: māino, pōpilikia
• Hebrew: נזק (he) m (nézek)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} नुक़सान m (nuqsān), ^{(please verify)} हानि (hi) f (hāni)
• Hungarian: ártalom (hu)
• Icelandic: skaði m
• Ido: domajo (io), nocuro (io)
• Igbo: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} cedera (id)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: dochar m, díobháil f, anachain (ga) f, urchóid f
• Italian: danno (it) m, male (it) m, ferita (it) f
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 損害 (ja) (そんがい, songai)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: залал (zalal), зиян (ziän), зарар (zarar)
• Khmer: ^{(please verify)} អំពើអាក្រក់ (ʼɑmpəəʼaakrŭək)
• Korean: 해 (ko) (hae)
• Latin: noxa f, noxia f
• Latvian: bojājums m, ievainojums (lv) m, kaitējums m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luganda: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Schued m
• Macedonian: штета (šteta)
• Malay: mudarat, keburukan (ms)
• Malayalam: ഉപദ്രവം (ml) (upadravaṁ)
• Marathi: ईजा (ījā)
• Mirandese: ^{(please verify)} danho m
• Occitan: dam (oc) m
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: hearm
• Old Saxon: ^{(please verify)} harm
• Ottoman Turkish: ضرر (zarar), زیان (ziyan), مضرت (mazarrat)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: آسیب (fa) (âsib)
• Polish: szkoda (pl) f, krzywda (pl) f
• Portuguese: dano (pt) m, mal (pt) m
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} pagubă (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} daună (ro) f, ^{(please verify)} prejudiciu (ro) n; ^{(please verify)} rău (ro) n, ^{(please verify)} nedreptate (ro) f
• Russian: вред (ru) m (vred), уще́рб (ru) m (uščérb), поврежде́ние (ru) n (povreždénije)
• Samoan: leaga
• Sanskrit: द्रुह् (sa) f (druh)
• Sardinian: please add this translation if you can
• Scots: skaith
• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} aimhleas m, ^{(please verify)} baoghal m, ^{(please verify)} coire m, ^{(please verify)} ciùrradh m, ^{(please verify)} cron m, ^{(please verify)} olc m, ^{(please verify)} milleadh m, ^{(please verify)} dochann m, ^{(please verify)} coire f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: повреда f; штета f

  Roman: povreda (sh) f; šteta (sh) f

• Sicilian: firita f
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: poškodenie n
• Spanish: daño (es) m
• Tamil: கெடுதல் (ta) (keṭutal), நாசம் (ta) (nācam), நஷ்டம் (ta) (naṣṭam)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} హాని (te) (hāni)
• Thai: อันตราย (th) (an-dtà-raai)
• Tocharian B: karep
• Turkish: zarar (tr), hasar (tr), ziyan (tr), incinme (tr)
• Ukrainian: шко́да (uk) f (škóda)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} نقصان m (nuqsān)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Venetan: sbrégo m
• Vietnamese: hại (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Wolof: please add this translation if you can
• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: zerar n, derb f, ziyan f, ziyan f
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

that which causes injury, damage, or loss

• Bikol Central: uragan (bcl)
• Bulgarian: зло (bg) n (zlo)
• Catalan: mal (ca) m
• Finnish: vahinko (fi), haitta (fi)
• Italian: danno (it) m, svantaggio (it)
• Portuguese: mal (pt) m

Verb

harm (third-person singular simple present harms, present participle harming, simple past and past participle harmed)

1. To damage, hurt, or injure something, usually an inanimate object.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:harm

   • 2020 December 16, Yan Ming, “Awakening Moral Conscience”, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     Will justice and conscience of society not be harmed if people avoid the truth?

Usage notes

The verb harm is mostly used to describe metaphorical or inanimate victims. Rarely would one use a sentence such as  He made me angry so I harmed him. when a more explicit action such as  I hit him or even  I hurt him will do.

Translations

cause damage

• Afrikaans: beskadig
• Arabic: ضَرَّ (ḍarra) أَضَرَّ (ʔaḍarra)

  Egyptian Arabic: ضر (ḍarr)

• Armenian: վնասել (hy) (vnasel)
• Bulgarian: увреждам (bg) (uvreždam)
• Catalan: danyar (ca)
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 損害 / 损害 (zh) (sǔnhài)

• Danish: skade (da)
• Dutch: schaden (nl), beschadigen (nl)
• Esperanto: damaĝi
• Faroese: skaða
• Finnish: vahingoittaa (fi)
• French: nuire à, faire du mal à
• Galician: ferir (gl), facer mal
• German: schaden (de)

  Alemannic German: schade

• Greek: βλάπτω (el) (vlápto)

  Ancient: βλάπτω (bláptō)

• Hebrew: הזיק (he) (hizík)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: árt (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: domajar (io)
• Irish: déan dochar do, déan díobháil do
• Italian: danneggiare (it), ferire (it), far male, nuocere (it)
• Japanese: 害する (ja) (gai-suru), そこなう (ja) (sokonau), 痛める (ja) (ita-meru)
• Khmer: បង្ករអន្តរាយ (bângkârôʼntâréay)
• Korean: 해치다 (ko) (haechida)
• Latin: noceō (la) m
• Latvian: kaitēt, bojāt
• Maore Comorian: uhodza
• Maori: whakatūroro (to a person), whakahauā, whakakino
• Ngazidja Comorian: udhuru
• Piedmontese: neuse
• Polish: krzywdzić (pl), uszkadzać (pl) impf (mainly for inanimate)
• Portuguese: ferir (pt), fazer mal, afligir (pt), machucar (pt)
• Romanian: vătăma (ro), strica (ro), dăuna (ro)
• Russian: вреди́ть (ru) impf (vredítʹ), повреди́ть (ru) pf (povredítʹ), навреди́ть (ru) pf (navredítʹ)
• Sanskrit: द्रुह्यति (sa) (druhyati), हिनस्ति (sa) (hinasti)
• Scottish Gaelic: mill, cuir cron air
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оштетити, повредити / повриједити, шкодити

  Roman: oštetiti (sh), povrediti (sh) / povrijediti (sh), škoditi (sh)

• Slovak: raniť, škodiť
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: dañar (es)
• Swedish: skada (sv)
• Telugu: హాని (te) (hāni)
• Thai: ทำร้าย (th) (tam-ráai)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: шко́дити impf (škódyty), нашко́дити pf (naškódyty), завдава́ти шко́ди impf (zavdaváty škódy), завда́ти шко́ди pf (zavdáty škódy)
• Vietnamese: làm hại (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb harm

• harm a hair on someone's head
• harmer
• harmless
• self-harm
• unharmed

 

Expressions derived from the noun or verb harm

• actual bodily harm
• do more harm than good
• do no harm
• grievous bodily harm
• harm principle
• harm reduction
• harm's way
• no harm done
• number needed to harm
• repeated bodily harm
• wouldn't harm a fly

 

Anagrams

• Hmar, mahr

Icelandic

Noun

harm

1. indefinite accusative singular of harmur

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɾˠəmˠ/

Noun

harm

1. h-prothesized form of arm

Middle English

Alternative forms

• harem, arme, herme

Etymology

From Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm.

Noun

harm (plural harms)

1. harm, injury, ruination

Descendants

• English: harm
• Scots: herm, hairm
• Yola: harrm

References

• “harm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Norse

Noun

harm

1. accusative singular of harmr

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *harmaz.

Noun

harm m

1. harm

Descendants

• Middle Low German: harm, herm

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish harmber, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *harmaz. Cognate with English harm.

Noun

harm c

1. angry indignation (at something considered unjust)
2. (archaic) (physical or emotional) harm

Declension

Declension of harm

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	harm	harms
	definite	harmen	harmens
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

References

• harm in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• harm in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• harm in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)