inhale

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inhālō (“to breathe upon”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from in- (“in, upon”) and hālō (“to breathe out”);^[2][3][6] the current sense arose, in French as in English, from taking the word as the opposite of exhale.^[2][3] Barnhart thinks it probably a back-formation from inhalation, recorded from 1623, modelled on the Latin verb, and calls the Latin verb for breathing of uncertain origin;^[7] Etymonline gives either that back-formation or French inhaler as the source.^[8] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com analyse it within English as in- plus the ending of exhale.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To breathe in, draw into the lungs: 1725, in E. Fenton's part of Pope's translation of Homer's Odyssey.^[2][7][8] Johnson (1755) quotes from that translation the lines "But from the breezy deep the blest inhale / The fragrant murmurs of the western gale".^[11]

Semantic evolution

Johnson defined the verb as "to draw in with air; to inspire".^[11] The OED notes its special use for taking in an anaesthetic gas or vapour and tobacco smoke;^[2][12] a figurative use is recorded from 1791; from 1836 it was loosely used for absorbing a liquid.^[2] American slang made it "to eat very fast" by 1908, in the Chicago Tribune, and Ring Lardner wrote in 1914 of a man who "inhaled about four meals at once".^[13][9] The noun, an act of inhaling, is recorded by 1904 in Etymonline;^[8] the OED's first record, of tobacco smoke, is from 1934.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1725 – to breathe in, draw into the lungs.^[2][7][8]
• 1791 – figurative use.^[2]
• 1836 – loosely, to absorb a liquid.^[2]
• 1908 – slang, to eat very fast, to gobble.^[13] Etymonline dates this sense to 1924.^[8]
• 1934 – noun, an act of inhaling tobacco smoke.^[2] Etymonline records a noun by 1904.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw air, smoke or a vapour into the lungs by breathing: She inhaled the steam from the bowl.^[14][9][2]
2. (intransitive) To breathe in, especially to take tobacco smoke into the lungs.^[9][12]
3. (informal) To eat or swallow something very quickly or greedily: He inhaled two sandwiches before the bus came.^[9][13]

Noun

1. An act of inhaling, especially of tobacco smoke.^[9][12][2]

Word family

• uninhaled
• inhalation

Related words

• inhaler
• halitosis
• exhale

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ 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.
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins