Skip to content

"breath" in seven languages

Meaningbreath

Spanish

aliento

/aˈljento/

masc.other source · Spanish alentar 'to breathe', from a derivative of Latin ANHĒLĀRE 'to pant'

Also 'encouragement'; bad breath is mal aliento.

French

souffle

/sufl/

masc.other source · French souffler, from Latin SUFFLĀRE 'to blow into'

Bad breath is mauvaise haleine.

Italian

fiato

/ˈfjato/

masc.inherited

Also respiro; out of breath is senza fiato.

Portuguese

fôlego

/ˈfolegu/

masc.other source · folegar 'to breathe hard', from Latin *FOLLICĀRE 'to puff like bellows' (FOLLIS)

Romanian

suflare

/suˈflare/

fem.other source · sufla 'to blow', from Latin SUFFLĀRE

Catalan

alè

/əˈlɛ/

masc.other source · alenar 'to breathe', from Latin ANHĒLĀRE 'to pant'

English

breath

/bɹɛθ/

native English · Old English brǣþ

English → ItalianbreathfiatoNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: inflate, flatulent, soufflé.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

FLĀTUM‘a blowing, breath’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Italian fiato is FLĀTUS with fl- turned into fi-. French souffle is SUB + FLĀRE, the same 'blowing' root — and the airy soufflé. Spanish aliento comes from 'panting'.

English relatives: inflate, flatulent, soufflé

Sound laws at work

CL-, PL-, FL- at the start of a word

Learn it

Practice the The body deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esMe quedé sin aliento.
  • frJ'étais à bout de souffle.
  • itEro senza fiato.
  • ptFiquei sem fôlego.
  • roAm rămas fără suflare.
  • caEm vaig quedar sense alè.
  • enI was out of breath.

More in The body

All The body words