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
- Having difficulty breathing; gasping; That makes...
Ancestry of “breathless”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -less | (something); without (something). Added usually to a noun to form an adjective signifying a lack of that noun |
| 2 | Middle English | -les | Lacking (something); without (something) |
| 3 | Turkish | -le | with, shortened form of ile; by, shortened form... |
| 4 | Turkish | ile | with; and |
| 5 | Ottoman Turkish | ایله | by |
| 6 | Old Anatolian Turkish | اِیلَه | — |
| 7 | Proto-Turkic | bile | with, together, also |