Innocuous

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɪˈnɒkjuəs/

Definitions

1. Harmless and unlikely to cause offense, injury, or negative effects
2. Harmless in nature and incapable of causing adverse effects or offense
3. Lacking toxicity and not likely to provoke any harm or undesirable reactions

Etymology: "Innocuous" is built from the Latin "innocuus," meaning "harmless," which combined the prefix "in-" ("not") with "nocuus," "hurtful," from "nocere," "to harm." The English word is a direct borrowing from that Latin adjective, so the sense of harmlessness has remained almost unchanged across the centuries. The spelling deserves a note. Latin "innocuus" has a single "n" after the prefix, even though "in-" plus a word beginning with "n" might lead you to expect a doubled consonant. The root "nocuus" starts with "n," and the prefix simply attaches without doubling it, which is why the English form keeps just one "n" in the middle.

Synonyms: harmless, inoffensive, benign

Antonyms: harmful, dangerous