Etymograph

English

breath

Breath comes from Old English brǣþ ‘odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor’, from Proto-West Germanic *brāan ‘to smoke, fume’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreh₁-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brāan2‘to smoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brāþi1‘vapour’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150brǣþ1‘odor’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500breeth1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604breath1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English breath
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *brāþi
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure: “an after dinner's breath”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreh₁-Wiktionary, English breathreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brāanWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *brāþi‘to smoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*brāþiWiktionary, English breath‘vapour’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150brǣþWiktionary, English breath‘odor’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500breethWiktionary, English breath
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604breathWiktionary, English breath. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure: “an after dinner's breath”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with breath, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁-

  • breed ← breden ← brēdan ← *brōdijan ← *brōdijaną
  • brood ← brōd ← *brōduz
  • brawn ← brawne ← braon ← *brādon ← *brēdô

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The act or process of breathing.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “breath”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-West Germanic *brāþi. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- / breath