The building blocks of English

Affixes

-pnoea

In the US -pnea)

Breath, respiration.

Greek pnoē, breathing.

Examples are apnoea, temporary cessation of breathing, especially during sleep; dyspnoea (Greek dus‑, difficult), difficult or laboured breathing; tachypnoea (Greek takhus, swift), abnormally rapid breathing; and orthopnoea (Greek orthos, straight, right), difficulty in breathing except when standing or sitting upright.