Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to choke on

to choke on

47 3.4
To have trouble breathing because food gets stuck in the throat
  • phrasal verb
  • /tʃoʊk ɑn/
translation icon : atragantarse con
  • Don't eat too quickly or you might choke on your food.
  • choke on food
  • choke on vomit
  • baby choked on

I'm still literally choking on this setting spray.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • He started to choke on a piece of bread during dinner.

  • "I thought he had drowned!" he shouted at her, choking on tears of fear and fury.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • All right, next, just choked on my coffee.

  • I was choking on my own blood.

    Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

  • You could be standing right there and choke on that chocolate bar.

    Halloween Heroes (2021)

  • "Harry was so surprised by that revelation that he nearly choked on his tea.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Yeah, I choked on a hot dog and they had to perform an emergency tracheotomy.

  • So, I don't wanna have that drink because I'll probably choke on it.

    Rich Kids (1979)

  • He choked on an almond.

    Babes (2024)

  • "Why don't you go in?" Pratt just about chokes on his apple.

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

to choke
vsto choke on
  • NSFW
264 3.7

To be unable to breathe because something blocks the throat or neck

describes breathing blocked by something stuck in the throat, often food or drink

Antonyms

to breathe
∞ 1.0

To take air into the lungs and let it out

How Obstructed

to suffocate
  • NSFW
81 6.1
to choke on
47 3.4
to gag
5 5.1

Surface Forms

choke on infinitive
choked on past
choked on past participle
choking on present participle
chokes on third person singular

Morphology

choke + on

The meaning ('to have one's breathing obstructed by something') is directly and transparently derived from 'choke' (to stop breathing) combined with the preposition 'on' indicating the offending object or cause. This compositional use of 'on' to mark what causes the choking is common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Choke on comes from the clear picture of someone who cannot breathe because a piece of food or a small object is stuck in their throat, with choke showing the struggle to breathe and on showing the thing that is stuck. That's why it means 'to have one's breathing blocked by something in the throat'.