rough breathing

noun

1. the symbol (ʿ) used in the writing of Greek to indicate aspiration of the initial vowel or of the ρ (rho) over which it is placed.
2. the aspirated sound indicated by this mark.

rough breathing

noun

1. (in Greek) the sign ( ) placed over an initial letter, or a second letter if the word begins with a diphthong, indicating that (in ancient Greek) it was pronounced with an h Compare smooth breathing

Word History and Origins

Origin of rough breathing¹

1740–50; translation of Latin spiritus asper

Example Sentences

It was groans and rough breathing mixed up with the same noise that the chain on the dog outside had made.

From Literature

The one exception is the rough breathing before Ἀνδρασι in footnote 17, which should be a smooth breathing.

From Project Gutenberg

It has also no “rough breathing,” but this characteristic it shared with the Ionic of Asia Minor, and in the course of time with other dialects.

From Project Gutenberg

Before vowels at the beginning, or between vowels in the middle of words, it passed into an h sound, the “rough breathing.”

From Project Gutenberg

Accentuation must have been a welcome aid to those who employed Greek as a learned, though not as their vernacular tongue, and is so convenient and suggestive that no modern scholar can afford to dispense with its familiar use: yet not being, like the rough breathing, an essential portion of the language, it was but slowly brought into general vogue.

From Project Gutenberg