Revised as of 26 Nov 2022
Holy Moses! Did you see how holey the writing is in that story? It’s part of the Holy Grail of writing to achieve a well-organized story that lays it out for the reader. Sure you can keep them guessing, but make sure those words flow and make sense from one scene to the next. You don’t want your readers wholly confused, do you? I know I’d want my stories to be like the holly, ever green for the, ahem, buying public *grin*
And you guessed it. It’s a trio of heterographs — holey, holy, and wholly. Holly got tucked in as it is frequently confused with holey and holy, even though it is pronounced differently.
You may also want to explore “Hole versus Whole“, “Hold versus Holed“, and/or “Holed versus Hulled“.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Holey vs Holly vs Holy vs Wholly” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Holey | Holly | Holy | Wholly |
|---|---|---|---|
Holey Dollar is courtesy of the British Museum photographed by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Ilex aquifolium is AnRo0002’s own work under the CC0 1.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — It’s more commonly known as English holly. |
Bible, Rosary, Prayer is by jclk is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay. — Can’t get much more holy than those three. |
.jpg)
Picture Lake at Mount Shuksan, North Cascade Range of Washington state by Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Mount Shuksan is a glaciated peak wholly contained within Mount Baker Wilderness. |
| Part of Grammar: | |||
| Adjective | Noun; Proper Noun
Plural: hollies |
Adjective; Noun; Proper Noun Plural for the noun: holies |
Adverb |
| Having holes or full of holes | Noun: A widely distributed tree or shrub, — genus Ilex, family Aquifoliaceae — typically having prickly dark green leaves, small white flowers, and red berries The foliage and berries are used for decoration, especially during the Christmas season Proper Noun: |
Adjective: Dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose
[Dated or humorous] Used in exclamations of surprise or dismay Saintly [Slang] Very much of a
Entitled to worship or veneration as, or as if, sacred Religious Inspiring fear, awe, or grave distress Noun:
Proper Noun: [Informal] A clergyman |
Entirely
To the whole amount, extent, etc. So as to comprise or involve all |
| Examples: | |||
| Wow, those are some holey socks, Joe.
No, you cannot wear that holey sweater, Hannah. When are you going to replace those holey tennis shoes? |
Noun: There are several deciduous species of holly but the evergreen hollies are more typical and familiar. Ilex opaca, a.k.a., American holly, is what we call Christmas holly. The American holly is the state tree of Delaware. You remember that song, the one that goes “Deck the halls with boughs of holly . . .” Proper Noun: Mama, can Holly come over to play? Holly Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film The Piano. |
Adjective: At your First Communion, you will receive your own Holy Bible. The holy month of Ramadan requires a devout Muslim to fast all day. Saints, priests, and holy men are devoted to serving God. I do not lead a holy life. Holy smoke! Cemeteries and churches are considered holy ground. The director, when angry, is a holy terror. Mother Church performs the holy rites. Remember to keep the Sabbath holy. That girl is a holy terror. Noun: Holy water is supposed to hurt vampires, or so I’ve heard. Paul plans to take holy orders. Christmas and Easter are holy days. Holy basil is venerated by Hindus as a sacred plant. Proper Noun: So who’s the Holy Joe in this parish? There were various Holy Leagues that were alliances sponsored in Europe by the pope in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Holy Mary is the Mother of God in Christianity. She is such a Holy Mary. He’s one of those Holy Rollers. The last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was never even officially crowned before he abdicated in 1806. The pope’s official title is Holy Father. |
She found herself given over wholly to sensation.
The distinction is not wholly clear. “The precision it took to craft such a cohesive, wholly compelling work over 12 years is nothing short of remarkable” (Stern). “Sex, then, is not wholly experiential but at least partially transactional” (Picciuto). “A group of New York chefs show the Daily Beast how to enliven, or wholly recast, holiday table staples” (Sayed). |
| Derivatives: | |||
| Adjective: holier, holiest Noun: hole Verb: hole, holed, holing |
Noun: hollyhock, Hollywood | Adjective: holier, holiest, unholy, unholier, unholiest Adverb: holily Noun: holiness, unholiness |
|
| History of the Word: | |||
| Old English and related to the Dutch hollow and the German hohl meaning hollow, from an Indo-European root meaning cover, conceal. | Middle English holi, is a shortened form of the Old English holegn, holen, which is of Germanic origin and related to the German Hulst. | Old English hālig is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch and the German heilig, also to whole. | Middle English (and was probably already in Old English). |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Holey vs Holly vs Holy vs Wholly
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: holly, holy, wholly
Picciuto, Elizabeth. “Have Sperm, Will Travel: The ‘Natural Inseminators’ Helping Women Avoid the Sperm Bank.” The Daily Beast. 29 Nov 2014. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/have-sperm-will-travel-the-natural-inseminators-helping-women-avoid-the-sperm-bank?source=dictionary>.
Sayed, Sara. “Thanksgiving Favorites, With a Twist.” The Daily Beast. 26 Nov 2014. Web. n.d. <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43905>.
Stern, Marlow. “Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’.” The Daily Beast. 6 Jan 2015. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/oscars-2015-the-daily-beasts-picks-from-scarlett-johansson-to-boyhood?source=dictionary>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
The Holly and the Scots Pine by Colin Smith is via Wikimedia Commons. Palm Sunday at the Basilica del Santo Niño, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/5627429515/10f30a9f7e/>, by dbgg1979, <https://visualhunt.com/author/cc59a8>, is via VisualHunt. Both are under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
