sneeze

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To suddenly push air out through your nose and mouth because something irritates your nose.

   The dust made me sneeze several times.

2. 2
   noun

   A sudden, uncontrolled burst of air from the nose and mouth.

   He let out a loud sneeze in the quiet library.

From Middle English snesen (“to sneeze”), alteration of earlier fnesen (“to sneeze”), from Old English fnēosan (“to sneeze, snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fneusan, from Proto-Germanic *fneusaną, from Proto-Indo-European *pnew- (“to breathe, pant, snort, sneeze”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch fniezen (“to sneeze”), Old Norse fnýsa (“to snort”). Compare neeze, from Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan (“to sneeze”), cognate with Old High German niosan (“to sneeze”), Old Norse hnjósa (“to sneeze”). See neeze. It has been suggested that the change could be due to a misinterpretation…

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