Meanings
plural dyspneas · alternative dyspnoea · alternative dyspnœa
- CanadaUScountableuncountablemedicineDifficult or laboured breathing.
In a Diſpnœa, the breath is thick, vvithout noiſe or anhelation, and vvith leſs trouble.
1655, Lazarus Riverius [i.e., Lazare Rivière], “Of Asthma, or Difficulty of Breathing”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, and William Rowland, transl., The Practice of Physick, […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC, 7th book (Of the Diseases of the Breast), page 1482 more examples
The symptoms are coryza or catarrh suddenly setting in, itching of face and skin, erysipelatous swelling of the face, or tumefaction of the lids—dyspnœa more or less urgent, epigastric oppression, vomiting, headache.
1880, The American Medical Association, The Transactions of the American Medical Association, Volume 31, page 528During August the tumor again grew rapidly, causing dyspnœa, constipation and general malaise.
1888, R[euben] Ludlam, “Lecture LIX. Ovariotomy.”, in Medical and Surgical Lectures on the Diseases of Women, a Clinical and Systematic Treatise. […], 6th edition, Chicago, Ill.: Halsey Brothers, →OCLC, page 962Synonyms: shortness of breath, SOB, breathlessness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounDifficult or laboured breathing.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pnew-“to breathe; to pant”
- Ancient Greekδῠ́σπνοιᾰ“difficulty breathing, shortness of breath”
- Latindyspnoea“difficulty breathing”
- Englishdyspnea
Variant spelling of dyspnoea, a learned borrowing from Latin dyspnoea (“difficulty breathing”), from Ancient Greek δῠ́σπνοιᾰ (dŭ́spnoiă, “difficulty breathing, shortness of breath”), from δῠ́σπνοος (dŭ́spnoos, “short of breath, breathing with difficulty”, adjective) (also δῠ́σπνους (dŭ́spnous) by contraction) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, suffix forming abstract nouns). Δῠ́σπνοος (Dŭ́spnoos) is derived from δῠσ- (dŭs-, prefix meaning ‘bad; difficult, hard; unfortunate’) + πνέω (pnéō, “to blow; to breathe”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe; to pant”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as dys- (prefix meaning ‘abnormal; difficult; disease’) + -pnea (suffix meaning ‘breathing, respiration’).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans aamborstigheid
- aamborstigheiddifficult or laboured respiration
Ancient Greek δῠ́σπνοιᾰ
- δῠ́σπνοιᾰ (dŭ́spnoiă)difficult or laboured respiration
Bulgarian затруднено дишане
- затруднено дишане (zatrudneno dišane)difficult or laboured respiration
Catalan dispnea
- dispneadifficult or laboured respiration
Chinese Mandarin 呼吸困難 /呼吸困难
- 呼吸困難 /呼吸困难 (hūxī kùnnan)difficult or laboured respiration
Czech dušnost
- dušnostdifficult or laboured respiration
Danish åndenød
- åndenøddifficult or laboured respiration
Dutch aamborstigheid, ademnood
- aamborstigheiddifficult or laboured respiration
- ademnooddifficult or laboured respiration
Finnish dyspnea, hengenahdistus
- dyspneadifficult or laboured respiration
- hengenahdistusdifficult or laboured respiration
- hengitysvaikeusdifficult or laboured respiration
French dyspnée, essoufflement
- dyspnéedifficult or laboured respiration
- essoufflementdifficult or laboured respiration
German Dyspnoe, Atembeschwerde
- Dyspnoedifficult or laboured respiration
- Atembeschwerdedifficult or laboured respiration
- Atemnotdifficult or laboured respiration
- Kurzatmigkeitdifficult or laboured respiration
Greek δύσπνοια
- δύσπνοια (dýspnoia)difficult or laboured respiration
Hungarian légszomj
- légszomjdifficult or laboured respiration
Icelandic mæði
- mæðidifficult or laboured respiration
Indonesian dispnèa
- dispnèadifficult or laboured respiration
Italian dispnea, fame d'aria
- dispneadifficult or laboured respiration
- fame d'ariadifficult or laboured respiration
- mancanza di fiatodifficult or laboured respiration
- mancanza di respirodifficult or laboured respiration
Japanese 呼吸困難
- 呼吸困難 (kokyū konnan)difficult or laboured respiration
Latvian aizdusa
- aizdusadifficult or laboured respiration
Persian تنگی نفس
- تنگی نفس (tangi-e nafas)difficult or laboured respiration
Polish duszność, jaducha
- dusznośćdifficult or laboured respiration
- jaduchadifficult or laboured respiration
- zadyszkadifficult or laboured respiration
Portuguese dispneia, abafação
- dispneiadifficult or laboured respiration
- abafaçãodifficult or laboured respiration
- falta de ardifficult or laboured respiration
Romanian dispnee
- dispneedifficult or laboured respiration
Russian диспно́э, оды́шка
- диспно́э (dispnóe)difficult or laboured respiration
- оды́шка (odýška)difficult or laboured respiration
- затруднённое дыха́ние (zatrudnjónnoje dyxánije)difficult or laboured respiration
Spanish disnea, falta de aire
- disneadifficult or laboured respiration
- falta de airedifficult or laboured respiration
- falta de alientodifficult or laboured respiration
Swedish dyspné, andtäppa
- dyspnédifficult or laboured respiration
- andtäppadifficult or laboured respiration
Tagalog paghihirap sa paghinga
- paghihirap sa paghingadifficult or laboured respiration
Turkish nefes darlığı
- nefes darlığıdifficult or laboured respiration
Ukrainian зади́шка
- зади́шка (zadýška)difficult or laboured respiration
Welsh dyspnea
- dyspneadifficult or laboured respiration
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dyspnea
Cite this entry
dyspnea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dyspnea
“dyspnea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dyspnea. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dyspnea,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dyspnea.
Source: dyspnea on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.