Afrikaans asemhaal | ||
Albanian marr frymë | ||
Amharic መተንፈስ | ||
Arabic نفس | ||
Armenian շնչել | ||
Assamese শ্বাস-প্ৰশ্বাস | ||
Aymara samsuña | ||
Azerbaijani nəfəs al | ||
Bambara ka ninakili | ||
Basque arnasa hartu | ||
Belarusian дыхаць | ||
Bengali শ্বাস | ||
Bhojpuri सांस लिहल | ||
Bosnian diši | ||
Bulgarian дишайте | ||
Catalan respira | ||
Cebuano pagginhawa | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 呼吸 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 呼吸 | ||
Corsican respira | ||
Croatian disati | ||
Czech dýchat | ||
Danish træk vejret | ||
Dhivehi ނޭވާލުން | ||
Dogri साह् लैना | ||
Dutch ademen | ||
English breathe | ||
Esperanto spiri | ||
Estonian hingata | ||
Ewe gbɔ ya | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) huminga | ||
Finnish hengittää | ||
French respirer | ||
Frisian sykhelje | ||
Galician respirar | ||
Georgian სუნთქვა | ||
German atmen | ||
Greek αναπνέω | ||
Guarani pytuhẽ | ||
Gujarati શ્વાસ | ||
Haitian Creole respire | ||
Hausa numfasawa | ||
Hawaiian hanu | ||
Hebrew לִנְשׁוֹם | ||
Hindi साँस लेना | ||
Hmong ua pa | ||
Hungarian lélegzik | ||
Icelandic anda | ||
Igbo kuo ume | ||
Ilocano aganges | ||
Indonesian bernafas | ||
Irish breathe | ||
Italian respirare | ||
Japanese 呼吸する | ||
Javanese ambegan | ||
Kannada ಉಸಿರಾಡು | ||
Kazakh тыныс алу | ||
Khmer ដកដង្ហើម | ||
Kinyarwanda humeka | ||
Konkani श्वास | ||
Korean 숨을 쉬다 | ||
Krio blo | ||
Kurdish bîngirtin | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) هەناسە | ||
Kyrgyz дем алуу | ||
Lao ຫາຍໃຈ | ||
Latin respirare | ||
Latvian elpot | ||
Lingala kopema | ||
Lithuanian kvėpuoti | ||
Luganda okussa | ||
Luxembourgish ootmen | ||
Macedonian дишат | ||
Maithili सांस लेनाइ | ||
Malagasy miaina | ||
Malay bernafas | ||
Malayalam ശ്വസിക്കുക | ||
Maltese nifs | ||
Maori manawa | ||
Marathi श्वास घ्या | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯅꯤꯡꯁꯥ ꯁ꯭ꯋꯔ ꯍꯣꯟꯕ | ||
Mizo thaw | ||
Mongolian амьсгалах | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ရှူ | ||
Nepali सास | ||
Norwegian puste | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) puma | ||
Odia (Oriya) ନିଶ୍ୱାସ ନିଅ | ||
Oromo hafuura baafachuu | ||
Pashto تنفس | ||
Persian نفس کشیدن | ||
Polish oddychać | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) respirar | ||
Punjabi ਸਾਹ | ||
Quechua samay | ||
Romanian a respira | ||
Russian дышать | ||
Samoan manava | ||
Sanskrit श्वसिति | ||
Scots Gaelic anail | ||
Sepedi hema | ||
Serbian диши | ||
Sesotho hema | ||
Shona fema | ||
Sindhi ساه ڪريو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) හුස්ම ගන්න | ||
Slovak dýchať | ||
Slovenian dihati | ||
Somali neefso | ||
Spanish respirar | ||
Sundanese ngambekan | ||
Swahili kupumua | ||
Swedish andas | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) huminga | ||
Tajik нафас кашидан | ||
Tamil சுவாசிக்கவும் | ||
Tatar сулыш | ||
Telugu he పిరి | ||
Thai หายใจ | ||
Tigrinya ተንፍስ | ||
Tsonga hefemula | ||
Turkish nefes almak | ||
Turkmen dem al | ||
Twi (Akan) home | ||
Ukrainian дихати | ||
Urdu سانس لینا | ||
Uyghur نەپەس ئېلىڭ | ||
Uzbek nafas oling | ||
Vietnamese thở | ||
Welsh anadlu | ||
Xhosa phefumla | ||
Yiddish אָטעמען | ||
Yoruba simi | ||
Zulu phefumula |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The Afrikaans word 'asemhaal' is derived from the Dutch word 'ademhalen', which itself originates from 'adem' ('breath') and 'halen' ('to fetch'). |
| Albanian | While "marr frymë" literally means "take air," it also means "to rest". |
| Amharic | The Amharic word "መተንፈስ" (breathe) derives from the root word "ነፈስ" (breath, spirit) and is related to "መንፈስ" (soul). |
| Arabic | The word 'نفس' in Arabic also means 'self', 'soul', and 'breath of life'. |
| Armenian | The word շնչել (shnch'el) is derived from the Indo-European root *kwen-, meaning 'to breathe' or 'to blow' |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "nəfəs al" also refers to the act of "taking a rest or break." |
| Basque | In Basque, the word “arnasa hartu” literally means “taking oxygen”. |
| Belarusian | The word |
| Bengali | The word "শ্বাস" (breathe) in Bengali is derived from the Sanskrit word "श्वास" (breath), and also refers to the vital breath or life force. |
| Bosnian | The word "diši" in Bosnian also derives from "disati" (to breathe deeply), which can mean "gasp" or "pant". |
| Bulgarian | The word "дишайте" also means "to smoke" in Bulgarian. |
| Catalan | The etymology of respira is from Latin "respiro" meaning "draw air to the lungs" |
| Cebuano | The word 'pagginhawa' can also mean 'relief' or 'comfort'. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The character 呼 in '呼吸' also means 'call' or 'shout', implying that taking a breath is an active process. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | ' 呼吸 ' also signifies to ' rest ' or ' take ease ' . |
| Corsican | The verb "respira" is the second-person singular conjugation of "respirà" which can also mean "to rest". |
| Croatian | "Disati" shares its root with "duh" (spirit) and "smrad" (stench), reflecting its primordial meaning as "to emit air or vapor." |
| Czech | Czech word "dýchat" originates from Proto-Slavic term for "air". It's cognate to Lithuanian "džiūti" which means "to dry out". |
| Danish | ''Træk vejret'' translates to both ''breathe'' and ''draw a line'', as ''vejr'' can mean both ''weather'' and ''line''. |
| Dutch | The original meaning of the Dutch word "ademen" was "to smell" |
| Esperanto | "Spiri" comes from the Latin "spirare" meaning "to breathe" and also "to hope". |
| Estonian | The word "hingata" is also used to mean "to take a break". |
| Finnish | Hengittää can also mean 'rest', 'be free from work' or 'have no worries'. |
| French | The word "respirer" also means "to exhale" or "to sigh" in French. |
| Galician | In Galician, "respirar" can also refer to breathing underwater, unlike the Spanish "respirar", that only refers to breathing air |
| Georgian | 'სუნთქვა' is derived from the Proto-Kartvelian root *sunkh- meaning 'to smell' and also means 'odor' in Georgian. |
| German | The verb "atmen" is derived from the Old High German word "ātum", which originally meant "to blow" or "to breathe out". |
| Greek | In Ancient Greek, "αναπνέω" was also used in the sense of "revive" or "recuperating". |
| Gujarati | "શ્વાસ" is borrowed from Sanskrit, where it can also mean "spirit" or "life force" |
| Haitian Creole | The Haitian Creole word "respire" also means "to exhale or to blow out air". |
| Hausa | The word "numfasawa" is derived from the Arabic word "nafas", meaning "breath". |
| Hawaiian | The word "hanu" is also used to refer to the soul or breath of life, and is sometimes translated as "spirit". |
| Hebrew | "לִנְשׁוֹם" (breathe) shares its root letters with "נְשָׁמָה" (soul), pointing to the idea that breath is essential for life and the connection between the physical and spiritual. |
| Hindi | "साँस लेना" can be broken down into its roots to mean "giving life (प्राण) to air (वायु)" or "taking away (अपा) its impurity (न)". |
| Hmong | "Ua pa" means "to speak" and is also an onomatopoeia for the sound of breathing. |
| Hungarian | The word lélegzik is also used to describe the action of a bellows, a device that pumps air. |
| Icelandic | In Old Norse, 'anda' meant 'to die by drowning'. |
| Igbo | Kuo ume can also mean 'to revive' or 'to recuperate' |
| Indonesian | The Indonesian word "bernafas" also signifies having life or being alive. |
| Irish | The Irish word |
| Italian | The Italian word "respirare" ultimately derives from the Latin verb "spirare", meaning "to blow", and is related to other words like "spirit" and "inspire." |
| Japanese | The word '呼吸する' ('breathe') in Japanese also means to "receive" or "accept". |
| Javanese | The Javanese word "ambegan" can also refer to the movement of a body part. |
| Kannada | The Kannada word "ಉಸಿರಾಡು" may also mean "life force" or "spirit". |
| Kazakh | The word "тыныс алу" can also mean "to rest" or "to take a break" in Kazakh. |
| Khmer | The Khmer word "ដកដង្ហើម" also means "respiration", "breathing", or "the act of breathing". |
| Korean | 숨 (숨김) + 쉬다 (들숨 내숨), 숨 쉬다의 본래 뜻은 숨을 멈추었다가 쉬는 것 |
| Kurdish | The word "bîngirtin" in Kurdish is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰrengʰ-, meaning "to make a sound". |
| Kyrgyz | In Kyrgyz, the word “дем алуу” derives from the Turkic root *deme-, meaning “to blow”, and shares similarities with the Kazakh "дем алу", Azerbaijani "dəm almaq", and Turkish "nefes almak" |
| Latin | Latin verb 'respirare' also means 'recover consciousness', 'regain one's senses', 'return to life' or 'recover'. |
| Latvian | Elpot also refers to "live", "be alive" and "survive", among other related concepts. |
| Lithuanian | The word "kvėpuoti" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*kʷep-ē/o-", meaning "to breathe" or "to blow". |
| Luxembourgish | The German word 'atmen', meaning 'to breathe', may also have influenced the word 'ootmen', as the languages are closely related. |
| Macedonian | The verb "дишат" (breathe) is derived from the Proto-Slavic "*dyxati", which also means "to blow" or "to puff." |
| Malagasy | The word "miaina" also means "life" and is related to the word "aina", which means "land" or "country" in Malagasy. |
| Malay | The word "bernafas" in Malay originates from Sanskrit "nir" (out) and "vas" (to live), meaning "to live out" or "to exhale". |
| Maltese | The word "nifs" can also mean "scent" or "breath." |
| Maori | The Maori word 'manawa' also refers to the human soul, spirit, or essence. |
| Marathi | While "श्वास घ्या" generally translates to "breathe," it's also connected to "life breath," emphasizing its vital role in existence. |
| Mongolian | Амьсгалах originates from the Mongolian word "амь" (life), suggesting that breathing is central to life. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "ရှူ" can also mean "to live" or "to exist". |
| Nepali | The Nepali word "सास" (breathe) is cognate with the Sanskrit word "श्वास" (breath), and also means "mother-in-law" in both languages. |
| Norwegian | The Old Norse word "pusta" also referred to panting or gasping. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Nyanja 'puma' can also mean 'scent' or 'smell'. |
| Pashto | 'تنفس' means both 'to breathe' and 'to smell' in Pashto. |
| Persian | The word "نفس کشیدن" (breathe) in Persian comes from the word "نفس" (breath), which also means "soul" or "self." |
| Polish | "Oddychać" derives from "oddy", meaning "rest". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | In Portuguese, "respirar" also means "sigh" (in the sense of a deep breath). |
| Punjabi | The word "ਸਾਹ" in Punjabi also refers to a unit of time, specifically a moment or an instant. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "a respira" derives from Latin "respirare", meaning both "to breathe" and "to rest". |
| Russian | The verb "дышать" can also mean "to live" or "to exist" in Russian. |
| Samoan | The term "manava" in Samoan is derived from the word "mana," which means "life force" or "power." |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "anail" in Scots Gaelic can also mean "aspiration" or "breath" in a philosophical sense. |
| Serbian | The word "диши" is related to the Proto-Slavic root "*dъšа", which also means "soul, life". |
| Sesotho | Hema can also refer to a particular phase of initiation when girls learn about pregnancy. |
| Shona | The word "fema" also means "to recover" or "to take a break" in Shona. |
| Sindhi | The verb "ساه ڪريو" in Sindhi, translated as "to breathe," could be derived from the Persian root "دم زدن," which also signifies "respiration" and "inhaling." |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word හුස්ම ගන්න (husma ganna) was originally used to describe the process of drawing in air through the nose. |
| Slovak | The word "dýchať" in Slovak is derived from the Proto-Slavic "*dyxati" and is related to the Latin "spirare" and the English "spirit". |
| Slovenian | The word "dihati" in Slovenian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *dyhati, which is related to the English word "to die". |
| Somali | The word "neefso" is derived from the Proto-Cushitic verb "*nefsa", meaning to breathe or blow. |
| Spanish | "Respirar" in Spanish derives from the Latin "respirare," meaning both "to breathe" and "to get a break from work." |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "ngambekan" can also refer to the act of taking a bite of food. |
| Swahili | Kupumua also means 'to rest' or 'to be at peace' in Swahili. |
| Swedish | The word 'andas' also means 'duck' in Swedish. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "huminga" is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "*hiŋaŋ", which also means "breath" or "to breathe". |
| Tajik | The verb phrase "нафас кашидан" can also mean to "sigh", "gasp", "pant", or to take "a deep breath" |
| Tamil | "சுவாசிக்கவும்" originated from the Sanskrit word "svasi" meaning "to inhale", and it also means "to take a break" in Tamil. |
| Telugu | Telugu 'he పిరి' meaning 'to inhale' is cognate with Bengali 'phephri-te' ('to blow'). |
| Thai | "หายใจ" also means "calm" or "stop crying" when used in a certain context. |
| Turkish | The word "nefes almak" can also mean "to relax"} |
| Ukrainian | "Дихати" comes from Proto-Slavic "dъxati" meaning "to blow, breathe, or pant"} |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "nafas oling" is a compound word meaning both "to breathe" and "to have breath odor." |
| Vietnamese | "Thở" can also mean "to sigh" or "to gasp". |
| Welsh | The verb 'anadlu' is also used poetically to mean 'to live', 'to survive', or 'to continue' in Welsh. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "phefumla" also means "to be happy". |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "אָטעמען" also means "to take a breath" or "to sigh". |
| Yoruba | Simi can also refer to "to blow" or "to huff" |
| Zulu | The word "phefumula" also carries spiritual or aromatic connotations. |
| English | The word "breathe" is derived from the Middle English word "brethen," meaning "to exhale," and is related to the Old English word "brēoðan," meaning "to blow." |