Etymograph

English

halitus

Halitus comes from Latin halitus ‘breath, exhalation’, and goes back to hālō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhālō1‘to breathe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhalitus2‘breath, exhalation’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1932halitus2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin halitus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English halitus
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1932, Dorothy L. Sayers: “She had not realised how butcherly the severed vessels…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhālōWiktionary, Latin halitus‘to breathe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhalitusWiktionary, English halitus‘breath, exhalation’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1932halitusWiktionary, English halitus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1932, Dorothy L. Sayers: “She had not realised how butcherly the severed vessels…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- ‘to breathe’

and, animal, anime, asthma, unanimous, animate, animosity, animator, anima, anemone, animus, prana, onde, 17 more

through Latin hālō ‘to breathe’

inhale, exhalation, 1 more

Today it means

noun A vapour.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “halitus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin halitus. 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 hālō / halitus

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