Inhale

How to spell inhale

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce inhale

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inhale mean?

1. verbTo draw air, smoke, or another substance into the lungs by breathing in.

Inhale in a sentence

• The nurse asked him to inhale slowly through his nose.

• Workers were warned not to inhale the fumes from the solvent.

Where does inhale come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin inhalare, which combined in- meaning 'in' with halare meaning 'to breathe'. The Latin halare on its own described the simple act of breathing or sending out breath, and it also lies behind 'exhale' (to breathe out) and 'halitosis' (the medical term for bad breath). English assembled inhale fairly late, in the early eighteenth century, deliberately pairing it with the older 'exhale' so the two opposites would match. Because the spelling keeps the silent 'h' from the Latin root, the word is pronounced with the 'h' barely sounded, which is exactly where careless writers can drop it. Remembering that it shares the same breathing root as 'exhale' helps fix both the 'h' and the '-hale' ending.

How the word is built

• in- (in)
• hale (from Latin halare: to breathe)