Breathe Is the Verb; Breath Is the Noun
To breathe is to take air in and let it out. The spelling trips people constantly, because breath and breathe differ by one letter and one sound.
Breathe means to draw air into the lungs and push it out again. The commonest error in English writing about it is the missing e: breath is the noun, breathe is the verb, and the added e also changes the vowel from short to long.
- To take air in and out. *Breathe slowly through your nose.*
- To say quietly. *Do not breathe a word of this.*
- To let air through. *Leather shoes breathe better.*
- To let wine open up. *Let the red breathe for an hour.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | breathe | Try to breathe deeply. |
| Noun | breath | A deep breath. |
| Adjective | breathless | Breathless with excitement. |
| Noun | breathing | Steady breathing. |
| Phrasal | breathe in / out | Breathe in, then out. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He could hardly breathe after the climb.The plain physical sense.
- Do not breathe a word to anyone.Breathe a word means say even the smallest thing.
- The fabric breathes, so it stays cool.Textiles that let air pass through.
Breath and breathe, side by side
- Breath — noun, rhymes with death, short vowel
- Breathe — verb, rhymes with seethe, long vowel
- *Take a breath* is correct; *take a breathe* is not
- *Breathe deeply* is correct; *breath deeply* is not
- The same pattern runs through bath and bathe, cloth and clothe
Both descend from Old English *braeth*, meaning smell or vapour rather than respiration. The sense of breathing came later, and the older meaning survives faintly in phrases like a breath of fresh air.
Breath or breathe?
If you can put *a* or *the* in front of it, you need breath. If it follows to, can or an subject doing it, you need breathe.
What does breathe down someone's neck mean?
Watch them so closely that they feel pressured — a supervisor standing too near.