In cold weather, we get water vapour coming out of the mouth as we breathe. What is that called?
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forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1110663– HugoCommented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:41
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If that link is why I got the negative vote, can you please see the two answers below? There doesn't seem to be an agreed upon answer -- hence my question.– recluzeCommented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:43
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1The downvote is because the question shows no research effort. The link contains the same information as both the answers.– HugoCommented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:47
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2@Hugo: while that thread could possibly used as the basis of an answer, it is not even remotely an authoritative source, and the website it's on is not a general reference. (You can find lots of answers on the internet, but that doesn't mean they're correct answers.)– MarthaªCommented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:53
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1Some people call it fog breath, foggy breath, frost breath, frosty breath, or cold breath. You can Google any of those terms. There is a whole outdoor industry (hunters, snow mobilers, etc.) for counteracting it. (There are also some games and computer scripts that have co-opted some of the terms.)– JLGCommented Jan 8, 2013 at 13:24
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5 Answers
This is simply called "breath", with no special word for the visible form. We often call this phenomenon "seeing one's breath":
It's so cold I can see my breath!
answered Jan 7, 2013 at 15:40
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2
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2@recluze Why? There is no special single word for most things. Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:45
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10This "single-word-request" idea is a mistake, I think. It's like asking for the single Chinese character for any concept. Mostly there isn't one. There are compounds, which are much more common, and there are constructions, which are vastly more important than single words (or characters). Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:53
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@recluze: It's just the way you say things in English. 'Your breath is fogging up the window' works whether you can see the vapor in the air or not.– MitchCommented Jan 7, 2013 at 17:22
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@recluze Old post, but to respond to this, I think it's because the English language evolved in a cold climate...And because seeing your breath in such areas was so common and passive, there was no really a specific word for it. Just my weird theory...– E.GroegCommented Feb 26, 2022 at 7:49
I would call that steam (definition 2b from m-w.com: the mist formed by the condensation on cooling of water vapor); even though it is most commonly associated with boiling, the word can be applied to any vapor created due to a heat differential.
(one example from the definition page: Their breath steamed the windows.)
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4The condensation and fog formed a window or glass might be called "steam", but I don't believe the word properly applies to one's visible breath. Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:43
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1I downvoted it. I agree that people could and often do describe it with many circumlocutions like "visible steam that can come out of the mouth" or "clouds". I disagree that these are readily accepted and unambiguous terms, and calling the phenomenon "clouds" or "steam" on a regular basis will be regarded as either metaphorical or disfluent. Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:50
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1To put it another way: none of "mist", "steam", or "clouds" refer specifically to the visible condensation of one's breath in the cold, which is what the questioner was asking. Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 15:53
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2@J.R. I don't want to give the questioner the impression that the correct single word for the phenomenon is "steam" in the way that the single word for Canis familiaris is "dog". It could be steam, but it could be mist, it could be fog, it could be breath, it could be vapor, it could be "condensation droplets", depending on speaker choice. We don't call visible breath a special name. Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 16:00
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1"English is not a language that generally admits to only one "correct single word" for any given thing" <-- my point exactly! Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 16:43
Fog.
an opaque mass of something in the atmosphere.
comet-tail n. the tail of, or a tail like that of, a comet.
a1769 W. Falconer Descr. Ninety-gun Ship (R.), Its huge mast..From which a bloody pendant stretch'd afar Its comet-tail, denouncing ample war.
[OED] http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36875?redirectedFrom=comet%20tail#eid8982889
Why not call it
the breath condensing into mist
?
Example:
It was so cold that I could see my breath condensing into mist.
answered Jan 3, 2018 at 15:01
