Online Etymology Dictionary

suction (n.): 1620s, "act or process of sucking," from Late Latin suctionem (nominative suctio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin sugere "to suck" (see sup (v.2)). As "action produced by a vacuum" from 1650s.
suctorial (adj.): 1826, "pertaining to or adapted for sucking," from Modern Latin suctorius, from Latin suct-, past participle stem of sugere "to suck" (see sup (v.2)). Meaning "having a sucking organ" is from 1829.
Sudan: 1842, from Arabic Bilad-al-sudan, literally "country of the blacks" (originally the stretch of Africa between the Sahara and the equator), from sud, plural of aswad (fem. sauda) "black." In early use also Soudan, from French. Related: Sudanese.
sudarium (n.): "napkin for wiping the face," especially the cloth of St. Veronica, on which an image of Christ's face was believed to be imprinted, c. 1600, from Latin sudare "to sweat," from sudor "sweat" (see sweat (n.)). Earlier in nativized form sudary (mid-14c.).
sudatorium (n.): "room in a bath for sweating," 1756, from Latin sudatus, past participle of sudare "to sweat," from sudor "sweat" (see sweat (v.)) + -orium (see -ory).
sudden (adj.): early 14c., sodaine, from Anglo-French sodein or directly from Old French sodain, subdain "immediate, sudden" (Modern French soudain), from Vulgar Latin *subitanus, variant of Latin subitaneus "sudden," from subitus past participle of subire "go under; occur secretly, come or go up stealthily," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + ire "come, go" (see ion). "The present spelling was not finally established till after 1700" [OED].

Noun meaning "that which is sudden, a sudden need or emergency" is from 1550s, obsolete except in phrase all of a sudden first attested 1680s, also of a sudayn (1590s), upon the soden (1550s). Sudden death, tie-breakers in sports, first recorded 1927; earlier in reference to coin tosses (1834). Related: Suddenness.
suddenly (adv.): late 13c., sodeinli; see sudden + -ly (2).
Sudeten: from German, named for the Sudeten Mountains; mentioned by Ptolemy (2c.) but the name is of unknown origin, perhaps Illyrian.
sudorific (adj.): "causing sweat," 1620s, from Latin sudor (see sweat (n.)) + -ficus, from stem of facere "to make, do" (see factitious).
suds (n.): 1540s, "dregs, leavings, muck," especially in East Anglia, "ooze left by flood" (according to OED this may be the original sense), perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch sudse "marsh, bog," or related words in Frisian and Low German, cognate with Old English soden "boiled," from Proto-Germanic *suth-, from PIE *seut- "to seethe, boil" (see seethe). Meaning "soapy water" dates from 1580s; slang meaning "beer" first attested 1904. Related: Sudsy.
sue (v.): c. 1200, "continue, persevere," from Anglo-French suer "follow after, continue," Old French suir, sivre "pursue, follow after, sue in court" (Modern French suivre), from Vulgar Latin *sequere "follow," from Latin sequi "follow" (see sequel). Sense of "start a lawsuit against" first recorded c. 1300, on notion of "following up" a matter in court. Sometimes short for ensue or pursue. Meaning "make entreaty, petition, plead" (usually with for) is from late 14c. Related: Sued; suing.
Sue: fem. proper name, a shortened or familiar form of Susan.
suede (n.): undressed kid skin, 1884 (as an adjective from 1874), from gants de Suède (1859), literally "gloves of Sweden," from French Suède "Sweden" (see Swede). Suede shoes attested from 1885.
suet (n.): late 14c., "solid fat formed in the torsos of cattle and sheep," probably from an Anglo-French diminutive of Old French siu "fat, lard, grease, tallow" (Modern French suif), from Latin sebum "tallow, grease" (see sebum). Related: Suety.
Suez: Red Sea port, from Arabic as-suways, from Egyptian suan "beginning," in reference to the port at the head of the Red Sea. The modern Suez Canal opened in 1869.
suf-: assimilated form of sub- before -f-.
suffer (v.): mid-13c., "allow to occur or continue, permit, tolerate, fail to prevent or suppress," also "to be made to undergo, endure, be subjected to" (pain, death, punishment, judgment, grief), from Anglo-French suffrir, Old French sofrir "bear, endure, resist; permit, tolerate, allow" (Modern French souffrir), from Vulgar Latin *sufferire, variant of Latin sufferre "to bear, undergo, endure, carry or put under," from sub "up, under" (see sub-) + ferre "to carry" (see infer).

Replaced Old English þolian, þrowian. Meaning "submit meekly to" is from early 14c. Meaning "undergo, be subject to, be affected by, experience; be acted on by an agent" is from late 14c. Related: Suffered; sufferer; suffering. Suffering ______! as an exclamation is attested from 1859.
sufferable (adj.): c. 1300, "patient, long-suffering;" mid-14c., "allowed, permissible;" late 14c., "able to be endured;" from Anglo-French, Old French sofrable "tolerable, acceptable; able to bear or endure," from Medieval Latin sufferabilis; see suffer + -able. Related: Sufferably.
sufferance (n.): c. 1300, "enduring of hardship, affliction, etc.," also "allowance of wrongdoing," from Old French suffrance, from Late Latin sufferentia, from sufferens, present participle of sufferre "to bear, undergo, endure" (see suffer).
suffering (n.): "patient enduring of pain, inconvenience, loss, etc.," mid-14c.; "undergoing of punishment, affliction, etc.," late 14c., verbal noun from suffer (v.). Meaning "a painful condition, pain felt" is from late 14c.
suffice (v.): early 14c. (intransitive); late 14c. (transitive), from present participle stem of Old French sofire "be sufficient, satisfy" (Modern French suffire), from Latin sufficere "put under, lay a foundation under; supply as a substitute; be enough, be adequate," from sub "up to" (see sub-) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Phrase suffice it to say (1690s) is a rare surviving subjunctive.
sufficiency (n.): late 15c., from Late Latin sufficientia, from Latin sufficiens "adequate" (see sufficient) + -cy. Sufficience is from late 14c.
sufficient (adj.): early 14c., from Old French soficient "satisfactory," or directly from Latin sufficientem (nominative sufficiens) "adequate," present participle of sufficere "to supply as a substitute" (see suffice).
sufficiently (adv.): late 14c., from sufficient + -ly (2).
suffix (n.): 1778, from Modern Latin suffixum, noun use of neuter of Latin suffixus "fastened," past participle of suffigere "fasten, fix on, fasten below," from sub "upon" (see sub-) + figere "fasten" (see fix (v.)). Related: Suffixal.
suffix (v.): in the grammatical sense, 1778, from suffix (n.). Earlier "to put or place under" (c. 1600). Related: Suffixed; suffixing.
suffocate (v.): early 15c. (transitive), "deprive of air, choke, kill by preventing access of air to the lungs," also figurative, "stifle, smother, extinguish," from Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare "to choke" (see suffocation). Intransitive use, "become choked, stifled, or smothered," is from 1702. Related: Suffocated; suffocating.
suffocation (n.): late 14c., from Middle French suffocation, from Latin suffocationem (nominative suffocatio) "a choking, stifling," noun of action from past participle stem of suffocare "suffocate, throttle, stifle, strangle," originally "to narrow up," from sub "up (from under)" (see sub-) + fauces (plural) "throat, narrow entrance" (see faucet).
Suffolk: Old English Suþfolcci (895), literally "the South Folk;" compare Norfolk.
suffragan (n.): late 14c., "bishop who assists another bishop," especially one with no right of ordinary jurisdiction, from Anglo-French and Old French suffragan (13c.), from Medieval Latin suffraganeus "an assistant," noun use of adjective, "assisting, supporting," applied especially to a bishop, from Latin suffragium "support" (see suffrage). Related: Suffragant.
suffrage (n.): late 14c., "intercessory prayers or pleas on behalf of another," from Old French sofrage "plea, intercession" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin suffragium, from Latin suffragium "support, ballot, vote; right of voting; a voting tablet," from suffragari "lend support, vote for someone," conjectured to be a compound of sub "under" (see sub-) + fragor "crash, din, shouts (as of approval)," related to frangere "to break" (see fraction). On another theory (Watkins, etc.) the second element is frangere itself and the notion is "use a broken piece of tile as a ballot" (compare ostracism). Meaning "a vote for or against anything" is from 1530s. The meaning "political right to vote" in English is first found in the U.S. Constitution, 1787.
suffragette (n.): "female supporter of the cause of women's voting rights," 1906, from suffrage, with French fem. ending -ette, but not in the sense in which it was in vogue at the time.
suffragette. A more regrettable formation than others such as leaderette & flannelette, in that it does not even mean a sort of suffrage as they mean a sort of leader & of flannel, & therefore tends to vitiate the popular conception of the termination's meaning. The word itself may now be expected to die, having lost its importance; may its influence on word-making die with it! [Fowler, 1926]
Compare suffragist.
suffragist (n.): 1822, "advocate of extension of the political franchise in Britain," without regard to gender, or, in the U.S., of voting rights for free blacks; from suffrage + -ist. After c. 1885 especially with reference to voting rights for women.
suffuse (v.): 1580s, from Latin suffusus, past participle of suffundere "overspread, pour beneath, pour upon" (see suffusion). Related: Suffused; suffusing.
suffusion (n.): late 14c., from Latin suffusionem (nominative suffusio) "a pouring over," noun of action from past participle stem of suffundere "pour upon, overspread, suffuse," from sub "under" (see sub-) + fundere "to pour" (see found (v.2)).
suffusive (adj.): 1775; see suffuse + -ive. Related: Suffusively.
Sufi (n.): member of a Muslim mystical order, 1650s (earlier Sufian, 1580s), from Arabic sufi, literally "man of wool" (i.e., "man wearing woolen garments," as opposed to silk), from suf "wool." According to Klein, so-called from the habit of "putting on the holy garment" (labs-as-suf) to devote oneself to mysticism. Related: Sufic.
Sufism (n.): "mystical teachings of the Sufis," 1817, Sufiism (modern form by 1836), from Sufi + -ism.
sug-: assimilated form of sub- before -g-.
sugar (n.): late 13c., sugre, from Old French sucre "sugar" (12c.), from Medieval Latin succarum, from Arabic sukkar, from Persian shakar, from Sanskrit sharkara "ground or candied sugar," originally "grit, gravel" (cognate with Greek kroke "pebble"). The Arabic word also was borrowed in Italian (zucchero), Spanish (azucar, with the Arabic article), and German (Old High German zucura, German Zucker), and its forms are represented in most European languages (such as Serbian cukar, Polish cukier, Russian sakhar).

Its Old World home was India (Alexander the Great's companions marveled at the "honey without bees") and it remained exotic in Europe until the Arabs began to cultivate it in Sicily and Spain; not until after the Crusades did it begin to rival honey as the West's sweetener. The Spaniards in the West Indies began raising sugar cane in 1506; first grown in Cuba 1523; first cultivated in Brazil 1532. The reason for the -g- in the English word is obscure (OED compares flagon, from French flacon). The pronunciation shift from s- to sh- is probably from the initial long vowel sound syu- (as in sure).

As a type of chemical compound from 1826. Slang "euphemistic substitute for an imprecation" [OED] is attested from 1891. As a term of endearment, first recorded 1930. Sugar-cane is from 1560s. Sugar-maple is from 1731. Sugar loaf was originally a moulded conical mass of refined sugar (early 15c.); now obsolete, but sense extended 17c. to hills, hats, etc. of that shape.
sugar (v.): early 15c., "to sweeten with sugar," also figuratively, "to make more pleasing, mitigate the harshness of," from sugar (n.). Related: Sugared; sugaring.
sugar daddy (n.): also sugar-daddy, "elderly man who lavishes gifts on a young woman" [OED], 1926, from sugar + daddy.
sugar-coat (v.): also sugarcoat, 1870, originally of medicine; figuratively, "make more palatable," from 1910; from sugar (n.) + coat (v.). Related: Sugarcoated; sugarcoating.
sugar-plum (n.): c. 1600, figurative, "something sweet or agreeable;" see sugar (n.) + plum (n.). As a type of small, round, flavored candy, from 1660s.
sugary (adj.): 1590s, literal and figurative, from sugar (n.) + -y (2). Related: Sugariness.
suggest (v.): 1520s, "place before another's mind; put forward a proposition," from Latin suggestus, past participle of suggerere "bring up, bring under, lay beneath; furnish, afford, supply; prompt" (see suggestion). Meaning "to act so as to call up the idea of (something else)" is from 1709. Related: Suggested; suggesting.
suggestible (adj.): 1851, "capable of being influenced," from suggest + -ible. Meaning "that can be suggested" is from 1836. Related: Suggestibly; suggestibility.
suggestion (n.): mid-14c., "a prompting to evil," from Anglo-French and Old French suggestioun "hint, temptation," from Latin suggestionem (nominative suggestio) "an addition, intimation, suggestion," noun of action from suggestus, past participle of suggerere "bring up, bring under, lay beneath; furnish, afford, supply; prompt," from sub "up" (see sub-) + gerere "bring, carry" (see gest). Sense evolution in Latin is from "heap up, build" to "bring forward an idea." Meaning "proposal, statement, declaration" appeared by late 14c., but original English notion of "evil prompting" remains in suggestive. Hypnotism sense is from 1887.
suggestive (adj.): 1630s, "conveying a hint," from suggest + -ive. From 1888 specifically as a faintly euphemistic reference to proposals of indecent behavior. Related: Suggestively; suggestiveness.
sui generis: 1787, Latin, literally "of one's own kind, peculiar." First element from sui, genitive of suus "his, her, its, one's," from Old Latin sovos, from PIE root *swe-, pronoun of the third person (see idiom).