sneeze

Meaning

Verb

1. To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
2. To expel air as if the nose were irritated.
3. To expel or displace (air, snot, etc) from the nose or mouth by the process above.

Noun

An act of sneezing.

Synonyms

sneezing

sternutation

cough

crow

despise

disregard

flu

rasp

sniff

sniffle

wheezing

atishoo

influenza

achoo

sternutate

cold

🥶

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sniːz/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: snesen

Inherited from Old English: fnēosan

Cognate with Dutch: fniezen

Cognate with Old Norse: fnýsa

Cognate with Middle English: nesen

Cognate with Old English: *hnēosan

Cognate with Old High German: niosan

Cognate with Old Norse: hnjósa

Cognate with Middle English: fnoren

Cognate with Middle English: snatted

Cognate with Middle English: fnatted

In summary

From Middle English snesen (“to sneeze”), alteration of earlier fnesen (“to sneeze”), from Old English fnēosan (“to sneeze, snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fneusan, from Proto-Germanic *fneusaną, from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe, pant, snort, sneeze”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch fniezen (“to sneeze”), Old Norse fnýsa (“to snort”).
Compare neeze, from Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan (“to sneeze”), cognate with Old High German niosan (“to sneeze”), Old Norse hnjósa (“to sneeze”). See neeze.
It has been suggested that the change could be due to a misinterpretation of the uncommon initial sequence fn- as ſn- (sn- written with a long s), although the change is regular, seen also in snore and snort from Middle English fnoren and fnorten, and in late Middle English snatted from earlier Middle English fnatted (“snub-nosed”). The fn- forms of all these words fell out of use in the 1400s.