inhalation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inhālātiō,^[2] which the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English call Medieval Latin,^[3][4] a noun of action from inhālō (“to breathe upon”),^[2][5] formed from in- (“on, upon”) and hālō (“to breathe”).^[5][6] Barnhart instead sees it formed in English from the Latin verb and -ation, on the analogy of exhalation.^[6] The Latin verb meant "to breathe upon", and the English word used it as if it meant "to breathe in".^[5] The verb inhale, recorded only from 1725, is probably a back-formation from the noun;^[6][5] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com nevertheless derive the noun from inhale and -ation.^[7][8] The OED compares French inhalation, recorded from 1760.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of breathing in: 1623, in Cockeram's English Dictionarie.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word took its meaning from the contrast with exhalation, which is much older; the Latin verb behind both meant to breathe out or upon.^[6][5][2] Besides the general act of breathing in, it was used especially of inhaling medicines or anaesthetics as gas or vapour,^[2][3] and since 1882 for a medicinal preparation inhaled as vapour.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1623 – the act of breathing in.^[2][5]
• 1725 – the verb inhale appears.^[6][5]
• 1882 – medicine, a preparation to be inhaled.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of inhaling, or drawing air or another gas into the lungs; a single breath taken in.^[7][9][2]
2. The inhaling of a medicine or anaesthetic as a gas or vapour.^[2][3]
3. A medicinal preparation to be inhaled; an inhalant.^[9][2][3]

Word family

• inhalational

Related words

• inhale
• exhale
• exhalation

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins