wheeze

English

Etymology

From Middle English whesen, perhaps from Old Norse hvæsa (“to hiss”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwes- (“to pant”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wēz, IPA^(key): /ʍiːz/, /wiːz/
• Rhymes: -iːz

• Homophones: wees, Wiis (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Verb

wheeze (third-person singular simple present wheezes, present participle wheezing, simple past and past participle wheezed)

1. To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma.
   • 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance (Fourth Estate, paperback edition, 443)

     If the air smelled even faintly of dog, Lionel coughed, wheezed and sneezed.

Translations

breathe hard

• Bulgarian: хриптя́ (hriptjá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喘氣／喘气 (zh) (chuǎnqì), 喘气 (zh) (chuǎnqì), 喘息 (zh) (chuǎnxī)

• Czech: sípat, pískat (cs)
• Danish: hvæse
• Finnish: hengittää pihisten, pihistä, korista (fi)
• French: respirer bruyamment, avoir du mal à respirer
• German: keuchen (de), röcheln (de), schnaufen (de), schwer atmen, pfeifend atmen; (regional) giemen

  Alemannic German: charre

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ansimare (it), rantolare, anelare (it), respirare affannosamente, boccheggiare (it), ansare (it)
• Maori: ngae, ngaengae
• Northern Sami: skarkit
• Polish: charczeć (pl), chrypieć, rzęzić, sapać (pl)
• Russian: хрипе́ть (ru) (xripétʹ)
• Scots: hirsel, wheezle
• Scottish Gaelic: dèan pìochan
• Spanish: jadear (es)
• Tagalog: umagahas

Noun

wheeze (plural wheezes) Template:examples-right

1. A piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration.
2. An ordinary whisper exaggerated so as to produce the hoarse sound known as the "stage whisper"; a forcible whisper with some admixture of tone.
3. (British, slang) An ulterior scheme or plan
   • 2011 "Road rage; High petrol prices hurt, but will not throttle the economy", The Economist 19 November 2011:

     The main point of fuel duty, though, is as a fiscal wheeze: it made up 5% of the tax take in 2010.

4. (slang) Something very humorous or laughable.

   The new comedy is a wheeze.

   You think you're going to win? That's a real wheeze!

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:joke

Translations

piping or whistling sound caused by difficult respiration

• Bulgarian: хриптене n (hriptene)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喘息 (zh) (chuǎnxī)

• Czech: sípání n, pískot (cs) m
• Danish: hvæs n
• Finnish: pihinä; kähinä (coarse sound)
• German: Keuchen n, Schnaufen (de) n, Röcheln n
• Hungarian: sípol (hu)
• Italian: rantolo (it) m, anelito m
• Japanese: 喘鳴 (zeimei)
• Maori: ngae, ngoio, ngō, tīmohu
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: خس خس (xes-xes)
• Polish: charczenie (pl) n, sapanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: sibilo (pt) m
• Russian: хрип (ru) m (xrip), хрипе́ние (ru) n (xripénije), сипение (ru) n (sipenije)
• Scots: hirsel
• Scottish Gaelic: pìochan m
• Serbo-Croatian: hripanje, stridor (sh), hropac (sh) m
• Spanish: silbido (es) m, sibilancia (es) f, estertor sibilante m
• Tagalog: agahas
• Venetian: ràntego (vec) m

exaggerated whisper

• Czech: sípání n
• Finnish: teatterikuiskaus
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: сценический шёпот m (sceničeskij šópot)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "breathing hard"

• French: ^{(please verify)} respiration bruyante
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}