suffocate

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

VerbEdit

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

SynonymsEdit

• (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 termsEdit

• suffocation

Related termsEdit

• asphyxia

TranslationsEdit

(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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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
• 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)

AdjectiveEdit

suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)

1. (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.

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

Further readingEdit

• suffocate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• suffocate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• suffocate at OneLook Dictionary Search

AnagramsEdit

• offuscate

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LatinEdit

VerbEdit

suffōcāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of suffōcō