souffle (French)
Where does "souffle" come from?
The French noun 'souffle' travels back through the verb 'souffler'[1][5], which is inherited from the Latin verb 'sufflāre'[1][5]. This Latin term combines the prefix 'sub-' with 'flō'[2], tracing ultimately to the Proto-Italic form '*flāō'[3]. That ancestral form descends from the Proto-Indo-European root '*bʰleh₁-', meaning 'to blow'[3], which itself builds upon the base '*bʰel-'[4]. Over its long history, the word shifts from the ancient notion of blowing or breathing into specialized modern senses denoting a light baked dish, a gentle breeze, or even a turbulent heart murmur.
Open questions
- The Proto-Indo-European root for blowing may be a specialization of the root meaning to cry, with LIV reconstructing a single root meaning to howl. [4]
Full etymology tree
- souffle (French), 'blowing (act of expelling air from the mouth)'
- derived souffler (French), 'to relax'
- inherited sofler (Old French)
- inherited sufflare (Latin), 'inflection of sufflō:'
- prefix sub- (Latin), 'under, sub-'
- compound flo (Latin), 'to breathe, blow'
- inherited *flāō (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *bʰleh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to blow'
- inherited *flāō (Proto-Italic)
- inherited sufflare (Latin), 'inflection of sufflō:'
- inherited sofler (Old French)
- derived souffler (French), 'to relax'
Ancestors
- sufflo (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- souffle (English)
- souffle (English)
- souffle (English)
- à bout de souffle (French)
- à couper le souffle (French)
- effet de souffle (French)
- reprendre son souffle (French)
- retenir son souffle (French)
- second souffle (French)
Sources
- souffle (French) - Wiktionary
- sufflo (Latin) - Wiktionary
- flo (Latin) - Wiktionary
- bʰleh₁- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
- souffler (French) - Wiktionary
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris