sneeze

Meanings

To expel air as a reflex induced by an irritation in the nose.
To expel air as if the nose were irritated.
To expel or displace (air, snot, etc) from the nose or mouth by the process above.

From Middle English snesen, alteration of earlier fnesen, from Old English fnēosan, from Proto-West Germanic *fneusan, from Proto-Germanic *fneusaną, from Proto-Indo-European *pnew-. Cognate with dialectal Dutch fniezen, Old Norse fnýsa.
Compare neeze, from Middle English nesen, from Old English *hnēosan, cognate to Old Norse hnjósa, Old High German niosan.
It has been suggested that the change could be due to a misinterpretation of the uncommon initial sequence fn- as ſn- (sn- written with a long s), although the change is regular, seen also in snore and snort from Middle English fnoren and fnorten, and in late Middle English snatted from earlier Middle English fnatted ("snub-nosed"). The fn- forms of all these words fell out of use in the 1400s.

Explore and search massive catalog of over 900,000 word meanings.

Get a curated memorable word every day.

Level up your vocabulary by setting personal goals.

Try out Vedaist now.