asphyxia

Definition

Loss of consciousness due to the interruption of breathing and consequent anoxia.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin asphyxia, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσφυξία (asphuxía, “stopping of the pulse”).

Example Sentences

• "Asphyxia may result from choking, drowning, electric shock, or injury."
• "The mattress platform on Davey’s bed fell unexpectedly, “trapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed’s base,” Chipperfield explained. “Unable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia. One of the two gas-lift pistons was defective.”"
• "Hypoxaemia [...is] a deficient oxygenation of the blood; asphyxia from defective oxygenation of the blood."

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