asth·ma  ( ăz m ə, ăs -)
Share:
n. A chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs characterized by a narrowing of the airways and attacks of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath that are induced by triggers such as allergens, exercise, infections, and stress.
[Middle English asma, from Medieval Latin, from Greek asthma.]
asth·matic (-mătĭk) adj. & n. asth·mati·cal·ly adv.  (click for a larger image) asthmaleft: inflamed bronchial tube with contracted muscles and mucus discharge right: normal bronchial tube |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
This website is best viewed in Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. Some characters in pronunciations and etymologies cannot be displayed properly in Internet Explorer.