perish vs suffocate

perish and suffocate both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
perish	No	No	Yes	No
suffocate	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, suffocate is a hyponym of perish; that is, suffocate is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than perish:

perish: pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
suffocate: be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

Other hyponyms of perish include abort, asphyxiate, stifle, buy it, pip out, drown, predecease, famish, starve, fall, succumb, yield.

perish (verb)	suffocate (verb)
pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life	struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
	feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air
	be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
	suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
	become stultified, suppressed, or stifled
	deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
	impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of