Nonhazardous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterizing items or materials that pose no threat to safety or health
2. Denoting substances that are safe for human interaction and do not involve risk
3. Describing substances or materials that are safe and do not cause harm to people or the environment

Etymology: "Nonhazardous" is about as transparent as English compounds get: the prefix "non-", meaning "not," attached to "hazardous." The prefix descends from Old English "nān," itself built from "ne" (not) and "ān" (one), so the idea of "not one" sits quietly inside it. Its use as a free-standing negating element in English is what makes a word like this easy to coin. "Hazardous" is the older half of the pair. It traces back through Anglo-Norman and Old French forms of "hasard," a word for a game of dice, and the sense of chance and gamble carried over into the meaning of danger. So a thing that is hazardous is, at root, something you might lose at if you bet on it, and a nonhazardous substance is one where that wager is off the table.

Synonyms: safe, harmless, innocuous

Antonyms: hazardous, dangerous, risky