The Spanish verb 'suprimir' (meaning 'to suppress') comes from the Latin verb 'supprimere', which had the same meaning. The Latin word was formed by combining two elements: the prefix 'sub-' meaning 'under, below' and the verb 'premere' meaning 'to press'. When these combined, the 'b' in 'sub-' assimilated to 'p' before another 'p', giving us 'supprimere' - literally meaning 'to press under' or 'press down', which evolved to mean 'suppress' more generally.

Several common Spanish words share this Latin root 'premere' (to press): 'comprimir' (to compress), 'exprimir' (to squeeze out), 'oprimir' (to oppress), and 'imprimir' (to print - originally referring to pressing letters onto paper). All these words maintain the core meaning of pressing or applying pressure, just with different prefixes that modify the specific type of pressure being applied.

English speakers can connect 'suprimir' to several familiar English words that come from the same Latin source: 'suppress', 'press', 'pressure', 'compress', 'express', 'impress', and 'oppress'. All these words share the Latin root 'premere' meaning 'to press'. The English word 'suppress' is a particularly close relative, as it comes from the same Latin word 'supprimere' and has essentially the same meaning as Spanish 'suprimir'.