breathing

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Middle English breethder.

Middle English brethen

English breathe

Proto-Germanic *-ungō

Old English -ung

Middle English -ynge

English -ing

English breathing

From breathe + -ing.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiːðɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiðɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -iːðɪŋ
• Hyphenation: breath‧ing

Noun

breathing (countable and uncountable, plural breathings)

2. verbal noun of breathe: (uncountable) The act of respiration; (countable) a single instance of this.

   Synonyms: respiration, ventilation

   • 1848, The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal:

     […] their breathings, cryings, and excretings would have been damaged […]

3. A diacritical mark indicating aspiration or lack thereof.
4. (archaic) Time to recover one's breath; hence, a delay, a spell of time.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     DON PEDRO. Count Claudio, when mean you to go to church? / CLAUDIO. To-morrow, my lord. Time goes on crutches till love have all his rites. / LEONATO. Not till Monday, my dear son, which is hence a just seven-night; and a time too brief too, to have all things answer my mind. / DON PEDRO. Come, you shake the head at so long a breathing; but, I warrant thee, Claudio, the time shall not go dully by us.

5. Any gentle influence or operation; inspiration.

   the breathings of the Holy Spirit

6. Aspiration; secret prayer.
   • 1683 June 3 (Gregorian calendar), John Tillotson, “Sermon XXIV. Preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Whichcot, D.D. May 24, 1683. 2 Cor[inthians] V. 6.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], 8th edition, London: […] T. Goodwin, B[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton, […]; J. Round […], and J[acob] Tonson] […], published 1720, →OCLC, page 248:

     Let us then begin Heaven here, in the Frame and Temper of our Minds, in our heavenly Affections and Converſation; in a due Prepation for, and in earneſt Deſires and Breathings after that bleſſed State vvhich vve firmly believe and aſſuredly hope to be one day poſſeſſed of: […]

Derived terms

• 444 breathing
• abdominodiaphragmatic breathing
• accessory breathing
• base-pair breathing
• belly breathing
• box breathing
• breathing apparatus
• breathing cave
• breathing time
• breathing while
• circular breathing
• deep breathing
• hand breathing
• heavy breathing
• Kussmaul breathing
• labored breathing
• low breathing
• mouth breathing
• mouthbreathing
• nasal breathing
• overbreathing
• rough breathing
• smooth breathing
• square breathing
• stagger breathing

Translations

act of respiration

• Arabic: تَنَفُس m (tanafus), نَفَس (ar) m (nafas)

  Egyptian Arabic: تنفس m (tanafus)

• Armenian: շնչառություն (hy) (šnčʻaṙutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: tənəffüs, nəfəs (az)
• Belarusian: дыха́нне n (dyxánnje)
• Bulgarian: дишане (bg) n (dišane)
• Carpathian Rusyn: дыханя n (dŷxanja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 呼吸 (zh) (hūxī)

• Czech: dýchání (cs) n
• Danish: vejrtrækning (da) c, åndedræt (da) n
• Dutch: ademhaling (nl) f
• Esperanto: spirado
• Estonian: hingamine
• Finnish: hengitys (fi); henkäys (fi) (single instance)
• French: respiration (fr) f
• Georgian: სუნთქვა (suntkva)
• German: Atmen (de) n, Atmung (de) f
• Greek: αναπνοή (el) f (anapnoḯ)
• Hindi: श्वसन (hi) m (śvasan), साँस लेना (sā̃s lenā)
• Hungarian: légzés (hu), lélegzés (hu)
• Icelandic: öndun (is) f
• Italian: respirazione (it) f
• Japanese: 呼吸 (ja) (こきゅう, kokyū)
• Kazakh: дем алу (dem alu), дем (dem), тыныс алу (tynys alu)
• Khmer: ដង្ហើម (km) (dɑnghaəm)
• Korean: 호흡(呼吸) (ko) (hoheup)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: henasedan (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: дем алуу (ky) (dem aluu), дем тартуу (ky) (dem tartuu)
• Macedonian: дишење n (dišenje)
• Malayalam: ശ്വസനം (ml) (śvasanaṁ)
• Marathi: श्वास m (śvās), श्वसन n (śvasan), श्वासोच्छ्वास m (śvāsocchvās)
• Old English: ǣþm m
• Persian: تنفس (fa) (tanaffos), نفس (fa) (nafas)
• Polish: oddychanie (pl) n, oddech (pl) m
• Portuguese: respiração (pt) f
• Romanian: respirație (ro) f
• Russian: дыха́ние (ru) n (dyxánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: да̏х m, ди́са̄ње n

  Latin: dȁh (sh) m, dísānje (sh) n

• Slovak: dýchanie n
• Slovene: dihanje n
• Spanish: respiración (es) f
• Swahili: upumuaji
• Swedish: andning (sv) c
• Tagalog: paghinga
• Tajik: нафаскашӣ (nafaskaši), нафас (nafas), нафасгирӣ (nafasgiri), дам (dam)
• Tamil: மூச்சு (ta) (mūccu), உயிர்ப்பு (ta) (uyirppu), சுவாசம் (ta) (cuvācam)
• Thai: การหายใจ (th) (gaan-hǎai-jai)
• Turkish: nefes almak (tr), solumak (tr)
• Ukrainian: диха́ння n (dyxánnja)
• Uzbek: nafas (uz), dam (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự hô hấp (vi)
• Woiwurrung: wan-ang-goon

Adjective

breathing (not comparable)

1. Having life; living; alive.
   • 2011 December 13, Antony Jones, “Book review of 'Elantris' by Brandon Sanderson”, in SF Book‎^[1]:

     Elantris is quite an exceptional read, a wonderfully rich world of living breathing characters, great plot, and some very original ideas.

Verb

breathing

1. present participle and gerund of breathe

Further reading

• breathing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• rebathing