sneeze

EnglishEdit

 
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EtymologyEdit

From Middle English snesen (“to sneeze”), alteration of earlier fnesen (“to sneeze”), from Old English fnēosan (“to snort, sneeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *fneusan, from Proto-Germanic *fneusaną (“to sneeze, snort”), from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe, pant, snort, sneeze”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch fniezen (“to sneeze”), Old Norse fnýsa (“to snort”).

Compare neeze, from Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan (“to sneeze”), cognate to Old Norse hnjósa (“to sneeze”), Old High German niosan (“to sneeze”).

It has been suggested that the change could be due to a misinterpretation of the uncommon initial sequence fn- as ſn- (sn- written with a long s),[1][2][3] although the change is regular, seen also in snore and snort from Middle English fnoren and fnorten, and in late Middle English snatted from earlier Middle English fnatted (“snub-nosed”). The fn- forms of all these words fell out of use in the 1400s.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /sniːz/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːz

VerbEdit

sneeze (third-person singular simple present sneezes, present participle sneezing, simple past sneezed or (nonstandard) snoze, past participle sneezed or (nonstandard) snozen)

  1. (intransitive) To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
  2. (intransitive) To expel air as if the nose were irritated.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

 
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sneeze (plural sneezes)

  1. An act of sneezing.
    Synonyms: sternutation (medicine), ptarmus (medicine)

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ “sneeze”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
  2. ^ “sneeze” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2021.
  3. ^ word histories: sneeze

AnagramsEdit

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