Breath or breathe: which is correct?
Correct
breath (noun) / breathe (verb)
Avoid
breath (as the verb: "breath deeply")
Avoid
breathe (as the noun: "take a breathe")
Summary
Correct: breath (noun) / breathe (verb) — Avoid: breath (as the verb: "breath deeply") / breathe (as the noun: "take a breathe"). Breath = the air taken into or sent out of the lungs (noun); breathe = to take air in and let it out (verb).
- Part of speech
- noun / verb
- Source
- Merriam-Webster
Why
Merriam-Webster: breath (no final e) is the noun, with a short vowel; breathe (final e) is the verb, with a long vowel — the same pattern as bath/bathe and cloth/clothe.
Examples
- Take a deep breath before you speak.
- Remember to breathe slowly.
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- Checked against
- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
- 64
- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)