irrespirable

English

WOTD – 24 September 2023

Etymology

Either:

• from ir- (prefix meaning ‘not’) +‎ respirable; or
• borrowed from French irrespirable, from Late Latin irrespīrābilis, from Latin ir- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + respīrāre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able to be’). Respīrāre is the present active infinitive of respīrō (“to blow or breathe back; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + spīrō (“to blow; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow; to breathe”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: îrĭspīr'əbəl, îrĕ'spĭrəbəl, IPA^(key): /ɪɹɪˈspaɪɹəb(ə)l/, /ɪˈɹɛspɪɹəb(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ir‧re‧spir‧a‧ble

Adjective

irrespirable (comparative more irrespirable, superlative most irrespirable)

1. Not respirable; not suitable for breathing; unbreathable.

   Synonyms: nonrespirable, unrespirable

   Antonyms: breathable, respirable

   • 1932 May, Clark Ashton Smith, “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XIX, number 5, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 604, column 1:

     The air was growing fouler and more irrespirable, with a thick, sodden quality, as if from a sediment of material rottenness; and we had about decided to turn back.

Related terms

• respiration
• respirator
• respiratory
• respire

Translations

not respirable; not suitable for breathing — see unbreathable

French

Etymology

From Late Latin irrespīrābilis, from Latin ir- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + respīrāre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able to be’). Respīrāre is the present active infinitive of respīrō (“to blow or breathe back; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + spīrō (“to blow; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow; to breathe”)). The French word is analysable as in- +‎ respirable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ʁɛs.pi.ʁabl/

Adjective

irrespirable (plural irrespirables)

1. unbreathable, suffocating

Further reading

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

Spanish

Adjective

irrespirable m or f (masculine and feminine plural irrespirables)

1. irrespirable

Further reading

• “irrespirable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10