Meaning

adjective not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty

adjective tending to cause suspension of regular breathing

adjective appearing dead; not breathing or having no perceptible pulse

originEtymology tree English breath Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English breathless From breath + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0