dyspnea

Meaning

Difficult or laboured respiration; shortness of breath.

Synonyms

short-windedness

laboured breathing

shorthness of breath

short breath

Hyphenated as
dys‧pnea
Pronounced as (IPA)
/dɪspˈniː.ə/
Etymology

Variant spelling of dyspnoea, a learned borrowing from Latin dyspnoea (“difficulty breathing”), from Ancient Greek δῠ́σπνοιᾰ (dúspnoia, “difficulty breathing, shortness of breath”), from δῠ́σπνοος (dúspnoos, “short of breath, breathing with difficulty”, adjective) (also δῠ́σπνους (dúspnous) by contraction) + -ῐᾰ (-ia, suffix forming abstract nouns). Δῠ́σπνοος (Dúspnoos) is derived from δῠσ- (dus-, prefix meaning ‘bad; difficult, hard; unfortunate’) + πνέω (pnéō, “to blow; to breathe”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe; to pant”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as dys- (prefix meaning ‘abnormal; difficult; disease’) + -pnea (suffix meaning ‘breathing, respiration’).

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