respiration

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English respiracioun,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Middle French respiration, also respiracion,^[6][2] and directly borrowed from Latin respīrātiō (“recovery of breath, breathing”).^{[6][2][7][3][8]} Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster derive it from Latin alone.^[7][3][5] The Latin noun comes from respīrō (“to breathe again, breathe in and out”),^[3][6][4] from re- (“again”) and spīrō (“to breathe”).^[3] The OED compares Spanish respiración, of the 14th century, and Portuguese respiração, of the 15th.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A physiological process analogous to breathing: Barnhart finds respiracioun in 1392.^[7] The OED quotes surgical treatises dated 1392 from a manuscript of about 1475, where the word refers to an inanimate thing or abstract quality.^[6] Ordinary breathing, by the lungs, and a single breath are both quoted from a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie before 1425.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

Medieval medicine used the word more widely than we do: besides breathing with the lungs, it could mean a supposed "insensible" breathing, by which the arteries drew in air through the pores of the skin and sent out poisons.^[2][9] The Latin and French senses of recovering one's breath also came across: from the King James Bible of 1611 until 1752 respiration could mean a respite.^[6][9] Milton used it for coming back to life, "breathing again".^[3] Johnson (1755) gave the act of breathing first.^[10] Biology then widened the meaning.^[6] In 1790, in a translation of Fourcroy, it was the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment,^[6] Etymonline finds it extended to plants by 1831,^[3] and in 1882, in a translation of Sachs's botany, it became the metabolic process that releases energy in the cell.^[6] The Shorter Oxford also records aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration, which differ in whether the oxidant is free oxygen.^[9]

Timeline

• 1392 – respiracioun, a process analogous to breathing.^[7]
• before 1425 – the act of breathing; a single breath.^[6][2]
• 1611 – a respite (obsolete by 1752).^[6]
• 1790 – the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism and its environment.^[6]
• 1826 – in medicine, a breath sound heard by auscultation.^[6]
• 1831 – applied to plants.^[3]
• 1882 – the metabolic process that generates energy from food molecules.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Breathing: taking air into the lungs, or water into the gills, and expelling it again.^[5][6][9]
2. A single act of breathing: The nurse counted the patient's respirations.^[5][6]
3. (biology) The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism and its surroundings.^[11][5][6]
4. (biochemistry) The process in cells by which organic substances are broken down and energy is released.^[11][5][6]
5. (obsolete, 1611–1752) A respite; a chance to breathe again.^[6][9]

Word family

• respirational
• respiratory
• photorespiration
• artificial respiration
• cellular respiration

Related words

• respire
• respirator
• spirit
• inspire
• expire
• conspire
• perspire
• aspire

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. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins