# suffocate

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈsʌfəkeɪt/ · frequency rank #34,709

## Definitions
1. To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
2. To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
3. To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
4. To destroy; to extinguish.

## Etymology
The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1526; from Middle English suffocat(e) (“deprived of air, suffocated”), borrowed from Latin suffōcātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin suffōcō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from sub- (“under, up to”) + fōx (“throat”, oblique stem in fōc-). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

## Common misspellings (11)
`sfufocate`, `ssuffocate`, `suffcoate`, `suffoacte`, `suffocaet`, `suffocatte`, `suffoccate`, `suffoctae`, `sufocate`, `sufofcate`, `usffocate`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/suffocate