asthma

IPA/ˈæsmə/
KK[ˈæzmə]IPA/ˈæzmə/

asthma — noun

1. a long-term illness affecting the lungs, where the small tubes that carry air ti

1.nounB1
Definition

a long-term illness affecting the lungs, where the small tubes that carry air tighten up suddenly and cause a person to wheeze, cough, and struggle to get enough breath, often after contact with dust, pollen, smoke, cold air, or hard exercise.

Example

Mei was diagnosed with asthma when she was six years old.

passive: be diagnosed with asthma

Leila always carries an inhaler because her asthma gets worse in cold weather.

collocation: asthma gets worse / triggers asthma

Common collocations
  • asthma attack
  • asthma sufferer
  • asthma inhaler
  • trigger asthma
  • diagnosed with asthma
  • suffer from asthma
  • childhood asthma
  • severe asthma
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

have asthma

suffer from asthma

an asthma attack

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable; you say 'have asthma' (no article), not 'have an asthma'. The countable phrase is 'an asthma attack', meaning a single episode.

Common Mistakes

My brother has an asthma.
My brother has asthma.
asthma is uncountable; drop the article unless you mean 'an asthma attack'.
She got asthma after running.
She had an asthma attack after running.
'get asthma' usually means develop the long-term condition, not a single episode.

Word family

  • asthmatic
    adjectiveB2
  • asthmatic
    nounB2
  • asthmatically
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe trouble with breathing, but they sit at different levels. Asthma names a long-term disease where the airways tighten on and off, often from triggers like pollen or cold air. Bronchitis is an infection or inflammation of the larger airways and is usually short-term, with a thick, mucus-filled cough. Wheezing is just the whistling sound a person makes when they breathe through narrowed tubes; it is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Shortness of breath is the feeling of not getting enough air, which can come from running, anxiety, asthma, or many other causes. So a doctor may say, 'Her wheezing and shortness of breath suggest asthma, not bronchitis,' using each term for its own job.

asthma ↗bronchitiswheezing ↗shortness of breath

Common collocations

Nouns

  • asthma attack
  • asthma sufferer
  • asthma inhaler
  • asthma medication
  • childhood asthma

Phrases

  • suffer from asthma
  • diagnosed with asthma
  • trigger asthma
  • control one's asthma
  • have a history of asthma

Prepositions

  • with asthma
  • from asthma

Etymology

GreekLatinMedieval LatinMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word came into English in the late 1300s from medical Latin 'asthma', borrowed from Greek 'asthma', meaning a panting or short-drawn breath. The Greek noun is built on a root meaning 'to breathe hard', the same family that gives us 'aer' (air). Early English writers spelled it 'asma' and used it for any noisy, gasping breathing before doctors narrowed the meaning, in the 1800s, to today's specific lung disease.