dyspnea
/ˈdɪsp.ni.ə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.16 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
Etymology
Variant spelling of dyspnoea, a learned borrowing from Latin dyspnoea (“difficulty breathing”), from Ancient Greek δῠ́σπνοιᾰ (dŭ́spnoiă, “difficulty breathing, shortness of breath”), from δῠ́σπνοος (dŭ́spnoos, “short of breath, breathing with difficulty”, adjective) (also δῠ́σπνους (dŭ́spnous) by contraction) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, suffix forming abstract nouns). Δῠ́σπνοος (Dŭ́spnoos) is derived from δῠσ- (dŭs-, prefix meaning ‘bad; difficult, hard; unfortunate’) + πνέω (pnéō, “to blow; to breathe”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe; to pant”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as dys- (prefix meaning ‘abnormal; difficult; disease’) + -pnea (suffix meaning ‘breathing, respiration’).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɪsp.ni.ə/
- British English: /dɪspˈniː.ə/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Countable
- Uncountable