Etymograph

English

efflation

Efflation comes from Latin efflātiō ‘exhalation’, and goes back to flō ‘to blow’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflō1‘to blow’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEefflō1‘to exhale’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEefflātiō1‘exhalation’
  4. Englishearliest quotation a. 1718efflation1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English efflation
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1718, Thomas Parnell: “a soft efflation of celestial fire”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflōWiktionary, English efflation‘to blow’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEefflōWiktionary, English efflation‘to exhale’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEefflātiōWiktionary, English efflation‘exhalation’
  4. Englishearliest quotation a. 1718efflationWiktionary, English efflation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1718, Thomas Parnell: “a soft efflation of celestial fire”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’

blow, blast, bliss, bladder, flux, fluent, feeble, fluency, confluence, blithely, fluvial, blare, bleat, blather, 44 more

through Latin flō ‘to blow’

flavor, inflation, inflate, flatulence, conflate, 17 more

Today it means

noun A blowing, breathing or puffing out.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “efflation”. 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 / Latin flō / efflation

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