HSK 6 · Emotions

压抑 yāyì “to suppress (emotions)” in Chinese

Traditional 壓抑

What 压抑 means

  1. to suppress (emotions)
  2. depressing
  3. oppressive
  4. to constrain or repress emotions
  5. stifling
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • repression

How to say 压抑

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale压yā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale抑yì4th tone, falling

压抑 in a sentence

  1. 我无法压抑心中的怒火。

    Wǒ wúfǎ yāyì xīnzhōng de nùhuǒ.

    I couldn’t hold back my anger.

    Sentence #349548 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 汤姆没法压抑自己的怒火了。

    Tāngmǔ méifǎ yāyì zìjǐ de nùhuǒ le.

    Tom couldn’t hold back his anger any longer.

    Sentence #8686691 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 压抑 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 压 (yā) with each of its parts in a different colour
压yāto press
  • 厂cliff · hǎn
  • 土earth · tǔ
  • 丶dot · zhǔ
The character 抑 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
抑yìto restrain
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 卬lofty · ángSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 卬 (áng) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

How to write 压抑

压 6 strokes · 抑 7 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

压抑 (yāyì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 压抑 (yāyì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 压抑

Words with 压

压力yālì · pressure血压xuèyā · blood pressure压缩yāsuō · to compress压榨yāzhà · to squeeze压制yāzhì · to suppress压迫yāpò · to oppress气压qìyā · air pressure压岁钱yāsuìqián · money given to children at Chinese New Year

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

羞耻xiūchǐ · shame喜悦xǐyuè · joy虚荣xūróng · vanity厌恶yànwù · to loathe野心yěxīn · ambition疑惑yíhuò · doubt毅力yìlì · perseverance意志yìzhì · will

FAQs

压抑 (yāyì) means “to suppress (emotions)” or “depressing”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yāyì: yā with a 1st tone, then yì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 压抑 is written 壓抑. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yayi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 压抑 from the suggestions. Typing yayi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
压抑 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.