étouffer

Definition: to suffocate, smother, stifle, choke, muffle, deaden, suppress, hush up

Cette chaleur m'étouffe ! - This heat is smothering me!

Est-ce que ça t'etoufferait de dire merci ? - Would it kill you to say thank you?

Il faut trouver un moyen d'étouffer ce bruit - We need to find a way to muffle this noise

Il n'essaie pas d'étouffer le scandale - He's not trying to hush up the scandal

Related:

• étouffant - suffocating, stifling

• étouffement (m noun) - suffocation

(click the little graphic below to hear the Mot du jour pronounced)
Pronunciation: [ay too fay]