Difficult or labored breathing; shortness of breath.
Dyspnea is a sign of serious disease of the airway, lungs, or heart. The onset of dyspnea should not be ignored but is reason to seek medical attention. See also: glossary:pleural effusion and pulmonary edema
The word dyspnea comes the Greek “dys-”, difficulty + “pnoia”, breathing = difficulty breathing. Dyspnea is the American spelling and dyspnoea is the British (mis)spelling.
Common Misspellings: dyspenia, dypsena, dypsnea, dyspena