suffocate

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare (“to choke, stifle”), from sub (“under”) + faux (“the upper part of the throat, the pharynx”).

Verb

1. (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

   Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!

2. (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.

   He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.

   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.

3. (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

   I'm suffocating under this huge workload.

4. (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.

   to suffocate fire

Synonyms

• (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate, choke
• (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle, choke
• (To be overwhelmed): drown
• (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, choke, smother
• (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, choke, stifle
• (To make weary with contact): smother

Derived terms

• suffocation

Related terms

• asphyxia

Translations

(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body

• Catalan: ofagar (there is sufocar (ca) but it applies only to fires)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 窒息 (zh) (zhìxī)

• Czech: dusit se
• Danish: kvæles
• Esperanto: sufoki
• Finnish: tukehtua (fi)
• French: suffoquer (fr)
• Galician: abafar (gl), sufocar
• Hebrew: נחנק
• Hungarian: fuldoklik (hu), fullad (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 窒息する (ちっそくする, chissoku suru)
• Lombard: sofegar, stofegar (dialectal)
• Portuguese: sufocar (pt)
• Quechua: hiq'ipay
• Russian: задыха́ться (ru) impf (zadyxátʹsja), задохну́ться (ru) pf (zadoxnútʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: угу́шити

  Roman: ugúšiti (sh)

• Spanish: sofocar (es)
• Swedish: kvävas (sv)
• Vietnamese: ngạt (vi), ngạt thở, ngộp, ngộp thở

(intransitive) to die due to insufficient oxygen supply to the body

• Catalan: ofegar-se (ca)
• Czech: udusit se
• Danish: kvæles
• Finnish: tukehtua (fi)
• French: suffoquer (fr)
• Galician: afogar (gl)
• German: ersticken (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: נחנק
• Hungarian: megfullad (hu)
• Lombard: sofegar, stofegar (dialectal)
• Portuguese: sufocar (pt)
• Russian: задыха́ться (ru) impf (zadyxátʹsja), задохну́ться (ru) pf (zadoxnútʹsja)
• Swedish: kvävas (sv)
• Vietnamese: chết ngạt, chết ngộp

(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使窒息 (zh) (shǐ zhìxī)

• Czech: dusit (cs)
• Danish: kvæle (da)
• Esperanto: sufokigi
• Finnish: tukehduttaa (fi)
• French: étouffer (fr)
• Galician: abafar (gl), sufocar
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: ersticken (de), würgen (de)
• Hebrew: חנק (he)
• Japanese: 窒息させる (ちっそくさせる, chissoku saseru)
• Latin: suffōcō
• Lombard: sofegar, stofegar (dialectal)
• Polish: dusić (pl)
• Portuguese: sufocar (pt)
• Russian: души́ть (ru) impf (dušítʹ), задуши́ть (ru) pf (zadušítʹ), удуши́ть (ru) pf (udušítʹ)
• Swedish: kväva (sv)

(transitive) to kill someone by depriving him of a sufficient oxygen intake

• Catalan: ofegar (ca)
• Czech: dusit (cs)
• Danish: kvæle (da)
• Finnish: tukehduttaa (fi)
• Galician: afogar (gl), esganar
• German: ersticken (de)
• Hebrew: חנק (he)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: megfojt (hu)
• Lombard: sofegar, stofegar (dialectal)
• Polish: dusić (pl)
• Portuguese: sufocar (pt)
• Russian: души́ть (ru) impf (dušítʹ), задуши́ть (ru) pf (zadušítʹ), удуши́ть (ru) pf (udušítʹ)
• Spanish: ahogar (es)
• Swedish: kväva (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} verstikken (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)

1. (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Further reading

• “suffocate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “suffocate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “suffocate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• offuscate

---

Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) suffōcāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of suffōcō