aspiration

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English aspiracioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin aspīrātiō (“a breathing on, blowing; rough breathing”),^[5][3][4][6] partly also through Middle French aspiration,^[7][8] a noun of action from aspīrō (“to breathe upon; to strive for”),^[5][3] formed from ad- (“to”) and spīrō (“to breathe”).^[3] The OED and Etymonline treat it in two parts: the senses of breathing and longing belong with aspire, and those of speech and suction with aspirate.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sounding of the breath, h, in a syllable: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, which says that pigargus has no aspiration in its first syllable.^[2][5] Etymonline glosses this first use as "a spirant".^[3]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English the word also meant divine inspiration,^[2] and the OED records "the action of breathing into" from before 1535, in Thomas More (now obsolete).^[5][3] From 1569 it meant an aspirated sound or letter, such as h or the rough breathing of Greek.^[5][4] The act of breathing or drawing breath follows in 1608.^[5] The sense "steadfast longing for something higher" arose about 1600: the OED's first quotation is from Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1609).^[5][3][9] Johnson (1755) put it first, as "a breathing after; an ardent wish", used chiefly of a wish for spiritual blessings.^[9] The physical sense, drawing fluid or gas in or out by suction, appears in 1842 in engineering,^[5] and in medicine from the mid 19th century for the removal of fluid from the body by suction.^[7][4]

Timeline

• before 1398 – the sounding of h in a syllable.^[2][5]
• before 1535 – the action of breathing into; inspiration (now obsolete).^[5][3]
• 1569 – an aspirated sound or letter.^[5]
• 1608 – the act of breathing; a breath.^[5]
• 1609 – a strong desire for something higher.^[5][9]
• 1842 – drawing in or out by suction.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong desire to achieve something; ambition: Her aspiration was to run a hospital.^[10][5][9]
2. The thing so desired; a goal, often in the plural: the aspirations of young voters.^[10][5]
3. In phonetics, the release of a stop with an audible puff of breath, or a sound so pronounced, such as an aspirate.^[10][4][5]
4. The act of breathing, especially breathing in.^[10][4][5]
5. In medicine, the removal of fluid or tissue from the body by suction: needle aspiration.^[10][4][7]
6. In medicine, the drawing of fluid or foreign matter into the airways.^[10]

Word family

• aspirational
• vacuum aspiration

Related words

• aspire
• aspirate
• spirit
• inspiration
• respiration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins