haleine

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French aleine, deverbal from alener (“to breathe”), from Medieval Latin anhēlō by metathesis. The h appeared around the 16th century under the influence of Latin hālō (“to blow”).

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.lɛn/

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• Homophones: alène, alènes, alêne, alênes, allen, Allen, allène, allènes, haleines, halène, halènent, halènes
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

haleine f (plural haleines)

1. breath
   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act 4, scene 2:

     Tout hors d’haleine il prend pourtant sa place

     All out of breath he took nonetheless his place

2. breathing, respiration

Derived terms

• à perdre haleine
• de longue haleine
• hors d’haleine
• tenir en haleine

Related terms

• haleter
• anhélation

Further reading

• “haleine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• inhalée