真的吸不到空氣
這一族是核心畫面的原樣：問題真的發生在呼吸上，不是比喻。
verb · B2
To die because no air can get into your body, or to make a person or an animal die by stopping air from getting in.
窒息；使窒息
核心畫面
One picture can be held for the whole word: something is pressed close over you, and the air cannot get in. A bag over a face, a room with the windows shut, a piled on your chest - in each case there is no gap left for anything to pass through. Start with the body, where the lack of air is real and life stops. Then keep the same picture and change only what is being pressed on: the air in a stuffy bus, a young business, a person's week. The word always says the same thing - too close, no space, nothing can get through.
「suffocate」可以想成一個畫面：有東西緊緊壓在上面，空氣進不來。臉上蓋著袋子是這樣，關緊窗戶的房間是這樣，堆…更多收起
「suffocate」可以想成一個畫面：有東西緊緊壓在上面，空氣進不來。臉上蓋著袋子是這樣，關緊窗戶的房間是這樣，堆在胸口的工作也是這樣。中間都沒有留下一點縫隙。先從身體開始看，那裡的缺氧是真的，人會死。然後畫面不變，只換被壓住的東西：公車裡的空氣、一家剛起步的小店、一個人的整個星期。這個字每次講的都是同一件事——貼得太近、沒有空間、什麼都過不去。From the word’s history
The Wiktionary note in our evidence packet traces suffocate to Latin suffoco, from sub- (under, up to) plus the stem of fox (throat) - close up under the throat. The modern core keeps that spot exactly: the trouble sits right where air should be going in.
證據包裡的 Wiktionary 說明指出，suffocate 來自拉丁文 suffōcō：sub-（在下面、緊貼）加上 fōx（喉嚨）的字幹，字面像是「緊貼在喉嚨下面」。今天的核心畫面剛好還在同一個位置——問題就發生在空氣該進去的地方。
Wiktionary entry 'suffocate' (evidence packet, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:834722765:47458)
Two branches
壓得沒有空間
把「空氣進不來」換成「空間留不下來」，被壓的東西就從肺換成事情和人生。
verb · C1
To stop a relationship, plan, business or idea from growing or doing well, by pressing on it so hard that it has no room left.
扼殺；壓得沒空間
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
suffocateverb/ˈsʌfəkeɪt/
- 1
To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
- Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
- It is because of freedom, one netizen replied: Like air, you may not realize its importance, but when suffocating, you would know how precious it is.
- 2
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.
- Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.
- 3
To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
- I'm suffocating under this huge workload.
- If the trend to private cars continues, the more quickly will the road traffic suffocate itself, [...].
- 4
To destroy; to extinguish.
- to suffocate fire
suffocateadj/ˈsʌfəkeɪt/
- 1
obsoleteSuffocated, choked.
- 2
obsoleteSmothered, overwhelmed.
- This chaos, when degree is suffocate, follows the choking
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。