Inhalers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Apparatus utilized for administering medicinal substances directly into the respiratory system
2. Tools specifically created to aid individuals in improving their breathing when facing pulmonary ailments
3. A handheld instrument designed to send medicine straight into the airways to ease breathing problems

Etymology: The plural "inhalers" simply follows the regular rule for nouns ending in -er: add an s. The noun itself is a plain formation, built from the verb "inhale" with the agent suffix "-er," which English took from Old English "-ere," a suffix meaning one who performs an action. Inhale comes from Latin "inhalare," to breathe into, from "in-" meaning into and "halare," to breathe. The suffix has a long lineage. Old English "-ere" descends from Proto-Germanic "-ārijaz," which was itself shaped by Latin "-ārius," a term for a person connected with or working at something. Middle English kept the form as "-er," and it became one of the most productive endings in the language, producing "baker," "writer" and countless other agent nouns. An inhaler is therefore literally a thing that does the inhaling, though in practice the word names the device rather than the person breathing. The device sense is a modern extension, and the word's meaning has shifted from the agent to the apparatus.

Synonyms: breathers