hygienic
Americanadjective
Usage
What does hygienic mean? Hygienic is commonly used to mean clean and sanitary. It can also mean promoting good health or related to or involving hygiene—a collection of practices to promote and preserve health, or a condition involving the use of such practices. In the most popular sense, hygiene refers to habitual actions that help you stay physically healthy, such as washing your hands and brushing your teeth. This sense of the word is especially used in phrases like personal hygiene and good hygiene. Personal hygiene is closely associated with cleanliness. Hygiene can also be applied to one’s mental well-being—mental hygiene is the practice of trying to maintain mental health through proactive behavior and treatment. The word hygiene is also used to refer to the science that deals with preserving health—both of individuals and the general public. Another word for this is hygienics. Example: Hygienic practices like washing your hands are the easiest ways to avoid illness.
Synonym Usage
See sanitary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hygienic
Explanation
If something is hygienic it is good for your health or promotes healthy habits. Mothers are always spouting hygienic messages like "Wash your hands!" or "Brush your teeth!" Hygienic comes from the ancient Greek word hygies, meaning "healthy" or, literally, "living well." This state was represented by the Goddess Hygieia, the embodiment of health and cleanliness. Hygienic is often used indiscriminately with sanitary, though in fact sanitary implies a particular nose-wrinkling emphasis on proper sewage disposal and clean water that is only a part of the Greeks' original concept of a more comprehensive physical and mental well being.
Vocabulary lists containing hygienic
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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"The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century," Vocabulary from Chapter 7
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Better Nate Than Ever
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hygienic countertops block moisture and food particles from getting under the surface.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 17, 2022
Reynolds says the State Hygienic Laboratory in Iowa City has significant expertise in such testing and she’s confident the FDA-approved testing system will prove to be accurate.
From Washington Times • Apr. 30, 2020
Hygienic practices like frequent hand-washing and sterilizing commonly touched surfaces.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2020
Hygienic Harry: “Go ahead, punk, make my bed!”
From Washington Post • Nov. 7, 2019
Hygienic Importance of the Spinal Column.—What has been said about the adjustment of the skeleton in general applies with particular force to the spinal column.
From Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools by Walters, Francis M.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
