Healthy vs. Healthful

What's the difference between ''healthy'' and ''healthful''?

They're synonyms.

They're usually used synonymously, but some people distinguish them. Some people think that "healthy" should be used to describe something that is of good health, while "healthful" should should describe something that will make one more healthy. For example, a human is healthy, but vegetables are healthful.

The use of "should" twice in my post above was a mistake.

By the way, if you inist on a distinction you will just come off as pretentious.

*insist

They exist only in the USA. In other forms of English, only healthy is used.

To my ears "healthful" sounds wierder than any other Americanism I've come across.

I've never heard anyone use the term "healthful" in my life. And I live here in the good old US of A.

I encountered it in my work once. Maybe it's a technical word that ordinary Americans don't use. I'll see if I can find a link.

I've heard it used. It gets 453,000 results on Google.

Here's Dictionary.com's usage note regarding "healthy" and "healthful":

Usage Note: The distinction in meaning between healthy (“possessing good health”) and healthful (“conducive to good health”) was ascribed to the two terms only as late as the 1880s. This distinction, though tenaciously supported by some critics, is belied by citational evidencehealthy has been used to mean “healthful” since the 16th century. Use of healthy in this sense is to be found in the works of many distinguished writers, with this example from John Locke being typical: “Gardening... and working in wood, are fit and healthy recreations for a man of study or business.” Therefore, both healthy and healthful are correct in these contexts: a healthy climate, a healthful climate; a healthful diet, a healthy diet.



....I think I'm gonna go with John Locke on this one.

I'd never come across "healthful" before in my life. Yes, it sounds wierd.

Here are some more quotes I got on about healthful,

One from ''Common non-errors''


''People are healthy; vegetables are healthful.''


Quote-''Logic and tradition are on the side of those who make this distinction, but I’m afraid phrases like “part of a healthy breakfast” have become so widespread that they are rarely perceived as erroneous except by the hyper-correct. On a related though slightly different subject, it is interesting to note that in English adjectives connected to sensations in the perceiver of an object or event are often transferred to the object or event itself. In the 19th century it was not uncommon to refer, for instance, to a “grateful shower of rain,” and we still say “a gloomy landscape,” “a cheerful sight” and “a happy coincidence.”''

Dicitionary Quote

Quote-''Usage Note: The distinction in meaning between healthy (“possessing good health”) and healthful (“conducive to good health”) was ascribed to the two terms only as late as the 1880s. This distinction, though tenaciously supported by some critics, is belied by citational evidencehealthy has been used to mean “healthful” since the 16th century. Use of healthy in this sense is to be found in the works of many distinguished writers, with this example from John Locke being typical: “Gardening... and working in wood, are fit and healthy recreations for a man of study or business.” Therefore, both healthy and healthful are correct in these contexts: a healthy climate, a healthful climate; a healthful diet, a healthy diet.''

This is some other people's opinions about ''healthful''.

Quote-''healthful, healthy - Though the distinction between these adjectives is blurry, it's worth considering. Use healthful to describe something that promotes good physical or mental health: a healthful diet, a healthful environment. Use healthy to describe a person or animal in good health or to describe something in good mental or physical condition: a healthy family, a healthy outlook.''

Here's another quote from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

"healthful [Show phonetics]
adjective US
helping to produce good health:
A healthful diet includes lots of green vegetables."

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=36263&dict=CALD

Note the "US". The word is an Americanism as Simon says. My advice to learners is simply to ignore this odd word. Some American invented it only about a dozen decades ago, it's never heard outside the US, rarely heard in the US and insisted on only by a handful of American pedants who don't really know what they're talking about. You can get by with "healthy" forget "healthful".