From Latin 'aspīrāre' (to breathe toward), from 'ad-' + 'spīrāre' (to breathe) — the image of panting eagerly toward something desired.
To direct one's hopes or ambitions toward achieving something; to have a strong desire for advancement or achievement.
From Old French 'aspirer,' from Latin 'aspīrāre' (to breathe upon, to blow toward, to pant after, to seek eagerly, to desire ardently), composed of 'ad-' (to, toward) + 'spīrāre' (to breathe, to blow), from Proto-Indo-European *speys- (to blow, to breathe). The literal Latin image is somatic and intimate: to aspire is to breathe toward something — to pant after it with sustained effort and longing, the breath reaching toward the desired object before the body has arrived. This is desire expressed as directed respiration. The semantic shift from 'breathe toward' to 'desire earnestly'
The word 'aspiration' has a double life in English. In everyday language, it means a strong desire or ambition. In phonetics, it refers to the puff of breath that accompanies certain consonants (the 'h' sound after the 'p' in 'pin' but not in 'spin'). Both senses derive from the same Latin root — 'spīrāre' (to breathe