# lung

Pronunciation: say "LUNG" /ˈlʌŋ/

## Noun

1. A breathing organ in vertebrates that takes in air and adds oxygen to the blood.
   - Simple: An organ in the chest that helps you breathe and put oxygen into your blood.
   - _Surgeons removed part of the patient's left lung._
   - _Years of smoking had scarred both of his lungs._
2. The breathing power that lets someone sustain exercise or physical effort.
   - Simple: The power to keep breathing strongly during hard exercise or effort.
   - _The veteran climber still had the lung for steep trails at high altitude._
   - _Opera performers train for years to build powerful lungs._
3. An area of trees, parkland, or forest that supplies a place with fresh air and oxygen.
   - Simple: A green space, such as a park or forest, that gives a place fresh air.
   - _Planners protected the old woodland as the city's last remaining lung._
   - _Tropical rainforests are often called the lungs of the Earth._

## Origin

From Middle English lunge, from Old English lungen, from Proto-Germanic *lunganjō, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "light" (not heavy): the lung was seen as "the light organ." It is related to German Lunge, Dutch long, and the Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic words for lung, as well as Ancient Greek elaphrós ("light in weight") and perhaps Albanian lungë ("blister, bulge").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lung (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).