mouth-to-mouth
UK[ˌmaʊθ tə ˈmaʊθ]US[ˌmaʊθ tə ˈmaʊθ]
adj
involving contact between the mouth of a rescuer and that of an unconscious person to force air into the lungs
n
a method of artificial respiration involving such contact
Morpheme Breakdown
mouth
to
mouth
mouth
to
mouth
Etymology
The term is a modern English compound, formed by the straightforward combination of two identical nouns bridged by the preposition "to." This transparent structure creates a vivid, literal image of the action it describes: the direct passage of breath from one person's mouth to another's. It follows a long-standing Germanic pattern for forming descriptive compounds, similar to "hand-to-hand" or "face-to-face." The phrase's evolution into a fixed adjective and noun in the mid-20th century was driven by its adoption as the standard descriptor for a key technique in emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), where its graphic immediacy proved effective for public instruction.
Analysis
Structure: mouth + to + mouth
- mouth: From Old English mūþ, meaning the opening through which food is taken in. In this compound, it signifies the anatomical part.
- to: From Old English tō, a preposition indicating direction, contact, or relation. Here it denotes the directional transfer from one mouth to another.
- mouth: A repetition of the first element, specifying the recipient of the action.
Examples
The lifeguard administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the drowning victim.
In the old first-aid manuals, mouth-to-mouth was considered a less common technique.
She had to perform mouth-to-mouth to keep the infant breathing until the ambulance arrived.