English
inhale
Inhale comes from Latin inhalare ‘to breathe on (breathe in)’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enh₁-1‘to breathe’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enh₁-slo-1‘a breathing’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*anaslos1uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhalō2as halare‘to breathe’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinhalare2‘to breathe on (breathe in)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1878inhale2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin halo
- 2 Wiktionary, English inhale
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1878, Henry James, Honoré de Balzac: “[…] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enh₁-Wiktionary, Latin halo‘to breathe’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enh₁-slo-Wiktionary, Latin halo‘a breathing’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*anaslosWiktionary, Latin halouncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhalōWiktionary, English inhaleas halare‘to breathe’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinhalareWiktionary, English inhale‘to breathe on (breathe in)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1878inhaleWiktionary, English inhale. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1878, Henry James, Honoré de Balzac: “[…] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- ‘to breathe’
and, animal, anime, asthma, unanimous, animosity, animate, animator, anima, animus, anemone, prana, onde, 18 more
through Latin halō ‘to breathe’
Today it means
verb To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “inhale”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin halo. 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 *h₂enh₁- / inhale