What does unhealthy mean?
Word: Unhealthy
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Unhealthy means not good for your health, or not in good health.
Synonyms: harmful, unwholesome, sickly
Antonyms: healthy, wholesome, fit
Word origin: Health is Old English haelth, from hal 'whole', the same root as heal and whole.
How do you spell unhealthy?
Syllables: un - health - y
Tricky part: Health keeps the ea of heal even though it sounds like the e in bell.
Watch out for: unhelthy, unhealty, unhealthey
Memory tip: Health begins with heal: you heal to get your health back.
Unhealthy in a sentence
Example 1: Skipping breakfast day after day is unhealthy for growing children.
Example 2: The vet said the parrot looked thin and unhealthy.
Example 3: Smoke from burning crop stubble makes the air unhealthy in winter.
Fun Fact
Wealth is built the same way as health: weal, an old word for well-being, with th added at the end.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Fusion
Choose the two parts that make a real word with the given root:
___health___ 1. un 2. mis 3. over 4. y 5. ness 6. ish
a) 1 and 4
b) 1 and 5
c) 2 and 5
d) 3 and 6
Show answer
a) 1 and 4. Health + y is healthy, and un makes it unhealthy; mis, over, ness and ish give no real words.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the sentence?
Eating fried snaks late every night is an unhealthy habbit that can also disturb your sleep.
a) 2
b) 1
c) 3
d) 0
Show answer
a) 2. Snacks needs ck and habit has one b; unhealthy is correct.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its opposite:
1. shallow 2. hostile 3. hasty a. friendly b. deep c. unhurried
a) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
b) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
c) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
d) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
Show answer
c) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c. A deep well is the reverse of a shallow puddle, a friendly smile is not hostile, and unhurried work is not hasty.
Word Champ
Choose the correct word for the blank:
A stuffy, crowded room with no fresh air is an ___ place to study for hours.
a) unharmed
b) unheard
c) unheated
d) unhealthy
Show answer
d) unhealthy. A place that is bad for your body is unhealthy; unheard, unharmed and unheated describe other things.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Air is most likely to be unhealthy to breathe ____.
a) on a breezy hilltop
b) beside a busy road full of smoke
c) beside a calm lake
d) in a green park
Show answer
b) beside a busy road full of smoke
2. If a doctor says your diet is unhealthy, you should probably ____.
a) eat more fried snacks
b) eat more fruit and vegetables
c) skip more meals
d) drink more fizzy drinks
Show answer
b) eat more fruit and vegetables
