Asthma is the illness that suddenly makes breathing tight and whistling. An asthma attack, asthma inhaler, suffer from asthma.
The airways narrow and produce mucus, and a reliever inhaler opens them within minutes where a preventer works over weeks — using the wrong one in an attack is dangerous. It is very common in children. Note the silent th, which was inserted in the sixteenth century to match the Greek.
1nounasthmaAn illness that makes breathing tight and whistling.
“She always carries an inhaler because she has asthma.”
asthma is an illness.
Greek asthma means laborious breathing. The th was added to the English spelling in the sixteenth century to match it.
Ancient Greek
ἆσθμα — laborious breathing, asthma
Medieval Latin
asthma
Middle English
asma
English, today
asthma
From Middle English asma, asme, from Medieval Latin asthma, asma, from Ancient Greek ἆσθμα (“laborious breathing, asthma”). The spelling was changed to add -th- in the 16th century to match the Greek etymological roots.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA