the.com/breathlessness
The body's polite memo that air just became a luxury good.
means The uncomfortable sensation of not getting enough air, ranging from post-stairs huffing to genuine medical alarm.
from From Old English brǣth (smell, vapor, exhalation), which only later narrowed to mean the breathing kind; -less, the suffix of absence, plus -ness for the state of it.
Doctor's wordClinicians call it dyspnea, from Greek for bad breathing.
Two flavorsSprint-induced excitement versus heart-and-lung warning sign.
Brain-madeThe feeling is generated by the brain, not the lungs.