suffocate

suffocate

English

Etymology

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

Verb

suffocate (third-person singular simple present suffocates, present participle suffocating, simple past and past participle suffocated)

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.

   • Shakespeare

     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 French: suffoquer (fr) Galician: abafar (gl), sufocar Hebrew: נחנק‎ Hungarian: fuldoklik (hu), fullad (hu)

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 French: suffoquer (fr) Galician: afogar (gl) German: ersticken (de)

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 French: étouffer (fr) Galician: abafar (gl), sufocar

German: ersticken (de), würgen (de) Hebrew: חנק‎ (he) Japanese: 窒息させる (ちっそくさせる, chissoku saseru) 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 Galician: afogar (gl), esganar German: ersticken (de) Hebrew: חנק‎ (he)

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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: (please verify) verstikken (nl)

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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• suffocate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• suffocate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• offuscate

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Latin

Verb

suffōcāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of suffōcō