'Suppress' is Latin for 'press under' — pushing something beneath the surface. Quelling by force.
To put an end to something forcibly; to prevent the development, action, or expression of a feeling, impulse, or piece of information.
From Latin 'suppressus,' past participle of 'supprimere' (to press down, stop, check, stifle), composed of 'sub-' (under, from below) and 'premere' (to press). The Latin sense was 'to press under' — to push something below the surface where it cannot be seen. This produced both the physical sense (to hold down, to sink) and the figurative senses (to withhold from publication, to prevent from emerging, to stifle an uprising or emotion). Key roots: sub- (Latin: "under
In French, 'supprimer' has gone further than its English cognate: it can mean 'to kill' or 'to eliminate entirely.' French headlines use 'supprimer un emploi' (to eliminate a job) and, more darkly, 'supprimer quelqu'un' (to kill someone). The English word stopped short of this lethal sense, but the French development shows how 'pressing under' can escalate from concealment