exhalation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English exalacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin exhālātiō (“an exhalation, vapour”),^[4][2][5][6] a noun of action from exhālō (“to breathe out, evaporate”),^[4][5] which also gave exhale.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds Middle French exalation as a second source.^[7] The Latin verb is from ex- (“out”) and hālō (“to breathe”),^[5] which de Vaan takes back to a Proto-Indo-European noun for "a breathing".^[8] The geological sense follows French exhalaison.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

That which is given off, a vapour or fume: 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, "Thurgh diverse exalacions".^[4][2] Etymonline says the late 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word appears in learned writing: Gower's exhalations explain appearances of fire, on the authority of the Philosopher,^[2] and Trevisa's hills give them off with smokes and vapours.^[2] This led to the 16th-century sense of a body of burning vapour or meteor,^[4][9] which Johnson (1755) still lists and illustrates from King John: "No nat'ral exhalation in the sky".^[10] The action of breathing out is recorded only from the 18th century,^[4] and this is now the first meaning in general dictionaries.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1393 – that which is exhaled, a mist, vapour or scent.^[4][2]
• 1398 – the action of giving off vapour, evaporation, in Trevisa.^[4]
• 1561 – a body of burning vapour, a meteor (now archaic).^[4]
• 1742 – the action of breathing out.^[4]
• 1920 – in geology, the emission of volcanic gases.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of breathing out air; expiration: A long exhalation calmed her before the race.^{[11][12][7][4]}
2. The giving off of vapour; evaporation.^[7][4]
3. Something breathed or given off, such as air, mist or a scent; an emanation.^[11][12][4]
4. (geology) An emission of volcanic gases into the atmosphere.^[4][9]
5. (archaic) A body of burning vapour; a meteor.^[4][9][10]

Related words

• exhale
• inhale
• inhalation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House