Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “breathless” come from?

Breathless comes from Middle English brethles, from Old English brēaþlēas, combining brēaþ (breath) and lēas (lacking), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰer- (to carry or bear).

breathless (English): Having difficulty breathing; gasping; That makes...

Definitions

  1. Having difficulty breathing; gasping; That makes...

Ancestry of “breathless”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-lessLacking ; without . Added usually to a noun to...
2Middle English-lesLacking ; without
3Turkish-lewith, shortened form of ile; by, shortened form...
4Turkishilewith; and
5Ottoman Turkishایله—
6Old Anatolian Turkishاِیلَه—
7Proto-Turkicbilewith, together, also

Words derived from “breathless”

  • breathlessly
  • breathlessness
Every word from Proto-Turkic bile →