An inhaler is a small device, usually plastic, that holds medicine as a spray or powder. You put it in your mouth, press or breathe in, and the medicine goes straight to the lungs. People with asthma or other breathing trouble often carry one; a puff can open the airways in seconds. It is everyday English in clinics and families — “Where is my inhaler?” — not a rare textbook word. Though actually, not every breathing machine is an inhaler. A nebulizer is a larger machine that makes a mist you breathe through a mask, usually at home or in hospital. The inhaler is the pocket-sized one. Do not mix it with inhalant, which is the medicine or chemical itself.