harmless

From Middle English harmles, from Old English *hearmlēas, from Proto-Germanic *harmalausaz (“without harm; harmless”), equivalent to harm +‎ -less.

Cognate with German harmlos (“harmless”), Danish harmløs (“harlmess”), Swedish harmlös (“harmless”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹmləs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːmləs/

• Audio (US)

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harmless (comparative more harmless, superlative most harmless)

1. Incapable of causing harm or danger; safe.
2. Not intended to harm; inoffensive.
   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:

     The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. […] Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?

3. (obsolete) Unharmed.

• benign
• innocent
• innocuous
• undamaging

• harmful

• harmlessly
• harmlessness