I am not sure but I can't find any words that describe normal calm breathing. Something that describes the exhale of a breath or blowing air out from your mouth. Not frantic or puffed breathing just relaxed sounds like a sigh. But a sigh describes what the person is doing... not really the actual sound... Are there any English words for this?
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Sigh is also a sound. ("to make a sound suggesting a sigh" OR "the act or sound of sighing.") Source: dictionary.com/browse/sighed– Bella SwanCommented Apr 5, 2019 at 10:16
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Not sure if there's a one word term for this. I think most would just say regular breathing or a regular rhythm of breathing– SmockCommented Apr 5, 2019 at 12:36
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Just breathing itself. (Or breathe or breath, depending on how it's used.) Any other word would be used for something unusual. But if you have to draw a contrast with an adverb, then regular or normal as suggested.– Jason BassfordCommented Apr 5, 2019 at 12:58
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2 Answers
The most common word for breathing is "respiration" which is often broken down by definition into two actions - to inhale and exhale. There is also the technical term for normal breathing which is "eupnoea". However, the word "breathing" itself would seem to be descriptive enough for most usages.
If you are searching for an onomatopoeic word for the (sound of) regular breathing, I did find "susurration". It is a noun mostly used for a low, indistinct whispering sound. I found this online descriptive usage - susurration [a soft, whispering or rustling sound] of the breeze in the wayside grasses. However, it could be used as descriptive of breathing sounds as well - e.g. normal/calm/slow/indistinct breaths could be replaced with "susurrations" (the inhalations/exhalations of normal breathing in context). It can also be used in the adjective form "susurrous" - e.g. susurrous respiration/breaths/sounds.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/respiration
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/inhale
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/exhale
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Yeah but i'm trying to find a word that describes the sound that breathing makes not a word for the actual thing itself. Thanks tho!!– ChloeCommented Apr 6, 2019 at 2:32
I can tell you that, from the standpoint of someone administering first aid, the way to express what you're trying to express (the sound of normal breathing) is "calm breathing". This, however, would be clarified with a respiratory rate in terms of breaths per minute, because "calm" would depend on multiple factors: age, elevation, weight, and they would all correlate to a respiratory rate. Knowing the respiratory rate would be the best measure of normal breathing.
Now, it also sounds like you are trying to capture a sound to calm breathing, and this is merely a matter of perception. A medic would likely comment on the sound of breathing by noting audible elements: a rasp, a wheeze, a hiccup, which might indicate an abnormality. Or, they would note nothing abnormal at all, which is to say, stable breathing with no signs of a disturbance. And this would be noted as "calm breathing". That is to say, there is no single sound associated with calm breathing. We all breathe differently if you get down to the sounds we make.
answered May 6, 2019 at 15:07
