Meaning

verb deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing

verb impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

verb become stultified, suppressed, or stifled

originThe 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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0