The term asphyxiate was first used in 1818, derived from the seldom-used noun asphyxia, which referred to the condition of suffocation. This word has its roots in scientific Latin and ultimately comes from the Ancient Greek word asphyxia, pronounced something like aspooksee-uh, meaning “a stopping of the pulse” in a general sense. It quite literally means this: the term is made up of the prefix a-, meaning “not”, the root sphyxos, meaning “pulse”, and the suffix -ia, used for word formation. The root sphyxos is linked to the verb sphyzein, which meant “to throb”. While the exact origin is unknown, cognates in Sanskrit and other languages suggest it is likely of Indo-European descent.
