irrespirable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ɪˈɹɛspɪɹəb(ə)l/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- /ɪɹɪˈspaɪɹəb(ə)l/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- îrĭspīr'əbəl (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- îrĕ'spĭrəbəl (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
Either: * from ir- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + respirable; or * borrowed from French irrespirable, from Late Latin irrespīrābilis, from Latin ir- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + respīrāre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able to be’). Respīrāre is the present active infinitive of respīrō (“to blow or breathe back; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + spīrō (“to blow; to breathe, respire; to breathe out, exhale”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow; to breathe”)).
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Not respirable; not suitable for breathing; unbreathable.
The air was growing fouler and more irrespirable, with a thick, sodden quality, as if from a sediment of material rottenness; and we had about decided to turn back.
1932 May, Clark Ashton Smith, “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XIX, number 5, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 604, column 1:
Antonyms
Relateds
respirator · respiration · respiratory · respire