A respiration humidifier (1), including a humidifying chamber (21), an inlet (10) for feeding breathing air (5) to be humidified into the humidifying chamber (21), an outlet (11) for releasing the humidified breathing air (9) from the humidifying chamber (21), a bottom (19) limiting the humidifying chamber (21) for receiving water (18) to be evaporated, water (4), which is received by the bottom (19) in the humidifying chamber (21) and is to be evaporated for humidifying the breathing air (5) and at least one distributor (2) with capillary and/or suction action, which is arranged in the humidifying chamber (21) such that this is in contact with the water (4) to take up water (4) in the distributor (2) and is in contact with the breathing air in the humidifying chamber (21) for evaporating the water (4) taken up on the surface of the distributor (2) into the breathing air (5). The respiration humidifier allows a high evaporating capacity to be reached with homogeneous air-vapor mixture at a low design effort. Furthermore, splash water is avoided in the humidifying chamber and the respiration humidifier is able to be manufactured at a low cost. This object is accomplished by the at least one distributor (2) covering at least 50% of the surface of the water (4).