Meanings
present singular third person sneezes · participle present sneezing · past sneezed · humorous obsolete past snoze · participle past sneezed · humorous obsolete participle past snoze · humorous obsolete participle past snozen
- intransitivemedicineTo expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
To avoid passing on your illness, you should sneeze into your sleeve.
Synonyms: neeze, sternutate
- intransitiveTo expel air as if the nose were irritated.
- transitiveTo expel or displace (air, snot, etc) from the nose or mouth by the process above.
Toothless sneezed a large amount of dragon snot right in Hiccup's face.
2017, Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon: How to Betray a Dragon's Hero, Hachette Children's, →ISBN4 more examples
Lily shook her head violently and sneezed a large blue-bottle fly from where that insect had perched itself on the tip of her nose.
1924, Hugh Wiley, The Prowler, page 88When I crossed the road, I sneezed a big achoo! My nose started to feel itchy.
2010, Gunleen Deol, Sleepover Disaster, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 15I sneezed a big sneeze. It was so big I hit my nose on the sidewalk. Bow-ow. There was a smell in my snout that I wanted to get rid of. And it wasn't Muffet's rotten soup odor, either. That was actually kind of delicious.
2013, Sarah Hines-Stephens, Jane B. Mason, A Dog and His Girl Mysteries #2: Dead Man's Best Friend, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN“Okay,”he said, and sneezed a large drop of pinkish goop. “But you better have a lot to eat! I'll race you upstairs!” Wilmer shook his head. Sherman's hyper energy level seemed to have increased, and that was saying a lot.
2014, Fowler DeWitt, The Contagious Colors of Mumpley Middle School, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 89
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
nounAn act of sneezing.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna symptom consisting of the involuntary expulsion of air from the nose
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*pnew-“to breathe, pant, snort, sneeze”
- Proto-Germanic*fneusaną
- Proto-West Germanic*fneusan
- Old Englishfnēosan“to sneeze, snort”
- Middle Englishsnesen“to sneeze”
- Englishsneeze
From Middle English snesen (“to sneeze”), alteration of earlier fnesen (“to sneeze”), from Old English fnēosan (“to sneeze, snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fneusan, from Proto-Germanic *fneusaną, from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe, pant, snort, sneeze”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch fniezen (“to sneeze”), Old Norse fnýsa (“to snort”). Compare neeze, from Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan (“to sneeze”), cognate with Old High German niosan (“to sneeze”), Old Norse hnjósa (“to sneeze”). See neeze. It has been suggested that the change could be due to a misinterpretation of the uncommon initial sequence fn- as ſn- (sn- written with a long s), although the change is regular, seen also in snore and snort from Middle English fnoren and fnorten, and in late Middle English snatted from earlier Middle English fnatted (“snub-nosed”). The fn- forms of all these words fell out of use in the 1400s. Due to this rather universal adoption of the fn- > sn- shift within English by such a time frame, the idea of it being a simple sound shift has been suggested as well, with it specifically being a type of assimilation as the labial f- becomes alveolar s- to match the place of articulation of the following n-.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek πτάρνυμαι, πταρμός
- πτάρνυμαι (ptárnumai)expel air as a reflex
- πταρμός (ptarmós)act of sneezing
Arabic عَطَسَ, عُطَاس
- عَطَسَ (ʕaṭasa)expel air as a reflex
- عُطَاس (ʕuṭās)act of sneezing
- عَطْسَة (ʕaṭsa)act of sneezing
Basque zintz egin
- zintz eginexpel air as a reflex
Bengali হাঁচি দেত্তয়া
- হাঁচি দেত্তয়া (hãci dettoẏa)expel air as a reflex
Bulgarian ки́хам, ки́хна
- ки́хам (kíham)expel air as a reflex
- ки́хна (kíhna)expel air as a reflex
- ки́хане (kíhane)act of sneezing
Catalan esternudar, esternut
- esternudarexpel air as a reflex
- esternutact of sneezing
Chinese Cantonese 打乞嗤
- 打乞嗤 (daa² hat¹ ci¹)expel air as a reflex
Chinese Mandarin 打噴嚏 /打喷嚏, 噴嚏 /喷嚏
- 打噴嚏 /打喷嚏 (dǎ pēntì)expel air as a reflex
- 噴嚏 /喷嚏 (pēntì)act of sneezing
Czech kýchat, kýchnout
- kýchatexpel air as a reflex
- kýchnoutexpel air as a reflex
- kýchnutíact of sneezing
Danish nyse, nys
- nyseexpel air as a reflex
- nysact of sneezing
Dutch niezen, nies
- niezenexpel air as a reflex
- niesact of sneezing
Esperanto terni, terno
- terniexpel air as a reflex
- ternoact of sneezing
Estonian aevastama, aevastus
- aevastamaexpel air as a reflex
- aevastusact of sneezing
Finnish aivastaa, aivastus
- aivastaaexpel air as a reflex
- aivastusact of sneezing
French éternuer, éternuement
- éternuerexpel air as a reflex
- éternuementact of sneezing
- atchoumact of sneezing
German niesen, Niesen
- niesenexpel air as a reflex
- Niesenact of sneezing
Greek φταρνίζομαι, φτερνίζομαι
- φταρνίζομαι (ftarnízomai)expel air as a reflex
- φτερνίζομαι (fternízomai)expel air as a reflex
- πταρνίζομαι (ptarnízomai)expel air as a reflex
- φτάρνισμα (ftárnisma)act of sneezing
- φτέρνισμα (ftérnisma)act of sneezing
- πτέρνισμα (ptérnisma)act of sneezing
Hebrew הִתְעַטֵּשׁ
- הִתְעַטֵּשׁ (hit'atésh)expel air as a reflex
Hindi छींकना, छींक
- छींकना (chī̃knā)expel air as a reflex
- छींक (chī̃k)act of sneezing
Hungarian tüsszent, tüsszög
- tüsszentexpel air as a reflex
- tüsszögexpel air as a reflex
- tüsszentésact of sneezing
- tüsszögésact of sneezing
Icelandic hnerra
- hnerraexpel air as a reflex
Indonesian bersin
- bersinexpel air as a reflex
Irish lig sraoth, sraoth
- lig sraothexpel air as a reflex
- sraothact of sneezing
- sraothartachact of sneezing
Italian starnutire, starnuto
- starnutireexpel air as a reflex
- starnutoact of sneezing
Japanese くしゃみをする, しゃみをする
- くしゃみをする (kushami o suru)expel air as a reflex
- しゃみをする (shami o suru)expel air as a reflex
- くしゃみ (kushami)act of sneezing
Korean 재채기하다, 재채기
- 재채기하다 (jaechaegihada)expel air as a reflex
- 재채기 (jaechaegi)act of sneezing
Latin sternuō, sternūtō
- sternuōexpel air as a reflex
- sternūtōexpel air as a reflex
- sternūmentumact of sneezing
Latvian šķaudīt, šķaudiens
- šķaudītexpel air as a reflex
- šķaudiensact of sneezing
Lithuanian čiaudėti
- čiaudėtiexpel air as a reflex
Malay bersin
- bersinexpel air as a reflex
Māori matihe, mātihetihe
- matiheexpel air as a reflex
- mātihetiheexpel air as a reflex
- tiheexpel air as a reflex
- tiheiexpel air as a reflex
- matiheiexpel air as a reflex
- tihewaexpel air as a reflex
- tiheact of sneezing
- tiheiact of sneezing
- matiheact of sneezing
- mātihetiheact of sneezing
Norwegian Bokmål nyse
- nyseexpel air as a reflex
Persian عطسه کردن, عطسه
- عطسه کردن ('atse kardan)expel air as a reflex
- عطسه ('atse)act of sneezing
- شنوشه (šenuše)act of sneezing
- اشنوسه (ešnuse)act of sneezing
Polish kichać, kichnąć
- kichaćexpel air as a reflex
- kichnąćexpel air as a reflex
- kichnięcieact of sneezing
Portuguese espirrar, espirro
- espirrarexpel air as a reflex
- espirroact of sneezing
Punjabi ਨਿੱਛ ਮਾਰਨੀ, ਨਿੱਛਣਾ
- ਨਿੱਛ ਮਾਰਨੀ (niccha mārnī)expel air as a reflex
- ਨਿੱਛਣਾ (nicchaṇā)expel air as a reflex
- ਛਿੱਕਣਾ (chikkaṇā)expel air as a reflex
- ਨਿੱਛ ਆਉਣੀ (niccha āuṇī)expel air as a reflex
- نِچّھ مارنِی (nicch mārnī)expel air as a reflex
- نِچّھݨا (nicchṇā)expel air as a reflex
- چھِکّݨا (chikkṇā)expel air as a reflex
- نِچّھ آؤݨِی (nicch ā'oṇī)expel air as a reflex
- ਨਿੱਛ (niccha)act of sneezing
- نِچّھ (nicch)act of sneezing
Romanian strănuta, strănut
- strănutaexpel air as a reflex
- strănutact of sneezing
Russian чиха́ть, чихну́ть
- чиха́ть (čixátʹ)expel air as a reflex
- чихну́ть (čixnútʹ)expel air as a reflex
- чиха́ние (čixánije)act of sneezing
Scottish Gaelic sreothart
- sreothartexpel air as a reflex
Slovak kýchať, kýchnuť
- kýchaťexpel air as a reflex
- kýchnuťexpel air as a reflex
- kýchanieact of sneezing
Spanish estornudar, estornudo
- estornudarexpel air as a reflex
- estornudoact of sneezing
Swedish nysa, nysning
- nysaexpel air as a reflex
- nysningact of sneezing
Tagalog bumahin, humatsing
- bumahinexpel air as a reflex
- humatsingexpel air as a reflex
- bahingact of sneezing
- hatsingact of sneezing
Tamil தும்மு, தும்மல்
- தும்மு (tummu)expel air as a reflex
- தும்மல் (tummal)act of sneezing
Thai จาม
- จาม (jaam)expel air as a reflex
Turkish hapşırmak, aksırmak
- hapşırmakexpel air as a reflex
- aksırmakexpel air as a reflex
- hapşırıkact of sneezing
Ukrainian чха́ти, чхну́ти
- чха́ти (čxáty)expel air as a reflex
- чхну́ти (čxnúty)expel air as a reflex
- чиха́ти (čyxáty)expel air as a reflex
- чихну́ти (čyxnúty)expel air as a reflex
- чха́ння́ (čxánnjá)act of sneezing
- чиха́ння (čyxánnja)act of sneezing
Urdu چهینکنا, چھینک مارنا
- چهینکنا (chīṅknā)expel air as a reflex
- چھینک مارنا (chīṅk mārnā)expel air as a reflex
Vietnamese hắt hơi, hắt xì
- hắt hơiexpel air as a reflex
- hắt xìexpel air as a reflex
- nhảy mũiexpel air as a reflex
- cái hắt hơiact of sneezing
- cái hắt xìact of sneezing
Welsh tisian, trew
- tisianexpel air as a reflex
- trewact of sneezing
Yiddish ניסן, נאָס
- ניסן (nisn)expel air as a reflex
- נאָס (nos)act of sneezing
- ניס (nis)act of sneezing
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sneeze
Cite this entry
sneeze. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sneeze
“sneeze.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sneeze. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sneeze,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sneeze.
Source: sneeze on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.