respire
/ɹɪˈspaɪɹ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.78 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To take up oxygen and produce carbon dioxide (as animals do), or vice versa (as plants do).
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The breath of heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet, / With day-spring born; here leave me to respire."
- "Second Day.—Hold the breath five seconds. Respire, and hold the breath ten seconds. Respire, and hold the breath fifteen seconds."
- "All living things respire or breathe. To many of us this means that they take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide."
- "It is my opinion, that these animals, while they continue in the state of larvae, respire water and not air; and that they inspire the water, not by the mask, but by their posterior part, through which also they discharge it."
- "They were the last moments he might ever respire near her, who was then doubtless wrapt in peaceful sleep, whilst he wandered distracted without."
- "He cast to suffer him no more respire, But gan his sturdie sterne about to weld, And him so strongly stroke, that to the ground him feld."
Etymology
From Middle English respiren, borrowed from Old French respirer or Latin respīrō (“to blow back, breathe out”), from re- (“back”) + spīrō (“to breathe, blow”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹɪˈspaɪɹ/
- British English: /ɹɪˈspʌɪə/