suffoquer

\sy.fɔ.ke\

/\sy.fɔ.ke\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“suffoquer” is uncommon French (frequency #66,361 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,361
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Empêcher de respirer librement, faire perdre la respiration ou rendre la respiration difficile ; il se dit ordinairement du manque de respiration qui arrive par quelque cause intérieure ou par l’ef...

Corpus desk

Index FR-suffoquer · suffoquer · French

suffoquer · rank #66,361 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,361
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH subaquatique

Nearest frequency peer: subaquatique (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « suffoquer »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « suffoquer » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for suffoquer
PropertyValue
Headwordsuffoquer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\sy.fɔ.ke\
Letters9
Frequency rank#66,361
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « suffoquer » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).suffoquertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « subaquatique » (#66,359), « stérilisés » (#66,358), « surexcitée » (#66,364). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « suffoquer » est au #66,361. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

suffoquer is uncommon French at frequency #66,361 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \sy.fɔ.ke\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for suffoquer, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is suffoquer, spelled S-U-F-F-O-Q-U-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Empêcher de respirer librement, faire perdre la respiration ou rendre la respiration difficile ; il se dit ordinairement du manque de respiration qui arrive par quelque cause intérieure ou par l’effet de quelque vapeur nuisible.
  2. 2
    Étonner fortement, causer une émotion ou une surprise très vive.
  3. 3
    Faire mourir en arrêtant la respiration.
  4. 4
    Tuer par étouffement.
  5. 5
    Perdre la respiration.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how suffoquer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il est d’un embonpoint excessif, qui est toujours prêt à le suffoquer.
  2. Le contremaître avait bien déjeuné ; la chaleur le suffoquait. Il alla prendre l'air à l’étendoir des cuirs. C'était comme une immense volière perchée tout en haut de l'usine.

This word in other languages

suffocate(English)sofocar(Español)ersticken(Deutsch)abafar(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "suffoquer"?
"suffoquer" is spelled S-U-F-F-O-Q-U-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \sy.fɔ.ke\.
What does "suffoquer" mean?
As a verb, "suffoquer" means: Empêcher de respirer librement, faire perdre la respiration ou rendre la respiration difficile ; il se dit ordinairement du manque de respiration qui arrive par quelque cause intérieure ou par l’ef...
How do you pronounce "suffoquer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "suffoquer" is \sy.fɔ.ke\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "suffoquer" come from?
"suffoquer" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "suffoquer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

survenait#66,366survoltée#66,367somewhere#66,353sécurisez#66,370

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list