wholesome

Etymology

From earlier holesome, from Middle English holsom, holsum, helsum, halsum, from Old English *hālsum, *hǣlsum, from Proto-West Germanic *hailasam, from Proto-Germanic *hailasamaz, equivalent to whole + -some. Cognate with Saterland Frisian heelsoam, Dutch heilzaam, German Low German heelsaam, German heilsam, Icelandic heilsamur, Norwegian Nynorsk helsesam, Swedish hälsosam (“wholesome”).

adj

1. Promoting good physical health and well-being.
2. Promoting moral and mental well-being.
   Though hard, my friends, yet wholesome are the truths, taught in affliction's school, whence the pure soul rises refined, and soars above the world. 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music)
3. Favourable to morals, religion or prosperity; sensible; conducive to good; salutary; promoting virtue or being virtuous.
4. Marked by wholeness; sound and healthy.
5. Decent; innocuous; sweet.
   There's something tragic, but almost pure / Think I could love you, but I'm not sure / There's something wholesome, there's something sweet / Tucked in your eyes that I'd love to meet 13 April 2017, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband
   Around the same time, “wholesome” memes of cute doggos and puppers rejuvenated social media feeds that seemed daily filled with fresh horrors. 2019, Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, Riverhead Books
   The comment section on a recent post making fun of a “cute” and “wholesome” Doomer Girl meme is mixed. 2020-02-03, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “The Misogynistic Joke That Became a Goth-Meme Fairy Tale”, in The Atlantic