lung

Meaning

Noun

• A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
• Capacity for exercise or exertion; breath.
• That which supplies oxygen or fresh air, such as trees, parklands, forest, etc., to a place.

Related

Similar words

• bellows , lights

Origin

• From Middle English lunge, longe, from Old English lungen, from Proto-Germanic *lunganjō, an enlargement of *lungô, from Proto-Indo-European *lengʷʰ- ("not heavy, agile, nimble"); compare *h₁lengʷʰ-, whence ultimately also light. Cognate with West Frisian long, Dutch long, German Lunge, Danish lunge, Norwegian lunge, Swedish lunga, Icelandic lunga, and also Russian лёгкое , Ancient Greek ἐλαφρός and perhaps Albanian lungë. Compare Latin levis and Old English lēoht (Modern English light). See also lights. Superseded non-native Middle English pomoun, borrowed from Old French poumon, pomon.