eco-friendly

eco-friendly — adjective

1. describes products, actions, or buildings that cause little or no damage to the

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

describes products, actions, or buildings that cause little or no damage to the natural world — for example, using renewable energy, recycled materials, or non-toxic ingredients.

Example

The company switched to eco-friendly packaging made from recycled paper.

attributive: eco-friendly + noun (packaging)

Aiko only buys eco-friendly cleaning products for her apartment.

Common collocations
  • truly eco-friendly
  • genuinely eco-friendly
  • eco-friendly product
  • eco-friendly packaging
  • eco-friendly building
  • eco-friendly solution
  • eco-friendly material
Synonyms
  • environmentally friendly

    the full phrase with the same meaning; slightly more formal and less compact

  • green

    broader meaning that also includes the colour and inexperience; common in marketing but less precise

  • sustainable

    focuses on long-term resource preservation rather than immediate environmental harm

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

eco-friendly + noun

be + eco-friendly

Usage Note

The hyphen is standard when the compound appears before a noun (an eco-friendly product). In predicative position — after the verb be — the hyphen is also common and often retained.

Common Mistakes

I bought an eco friendly washing machine.
I bought an eco-friendly washing machine.
The compound adjective needs a hyphen when it comes directly before the noun it modifies.

Word family

  • eco-friendliness
    nounB2
  • eco-unfriendly
    adjectiveB2
  • environmentally friendly
    adjective phraseB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four terms relate to caring for the environment, but their uses differ. Environmentally friendly is the full form of eco-friendly and sounds slightly more formal; the two are interchangeable in most situations. Green is the broadest — it can also mean the colour or inexperience, so it works best when context makes the environmental meaning clear. Sustainable focuses on using resources in a way that keeps them available for future generations, making it a good fit for long-term planning (sustainable agriculture, sustainable energy) rather than everyday product labels. Eco-conscious describes a person's attitude or behaviour rather than a product's qualities — a shopper can be eco-conscious, but a shopping bag is eco-friendly. For example: 'The hotel adopted eco-friendly practices such as solar panels and recycling, and eco-conscious travellers chose to stay there.'

environmentally friendlygreen ↗sustainable ↗eco-conscious

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • eco-friendly way
  • eco-friendly choice
  • eco-friendly label

Etymology

GreekOld EnglishEnglish

The prefix eco- comes from the Greek word oikos, meaning 'house' or 'household'. Friendly comes from the Old English frēondlīc, meaning 'kind' or 'favourable'. The compound eco-friendly first appeared in English during the environmental movement of the 1970s to describe products and practices designed to cause less harm to the natural world — our shared planetary home.