压 (yā): to press, to push down, to keep under (control)

压 (yā) is a Chinese character meaning “to press.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (structural), 土 (structural) and 丶 (structural). It ranks #756 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 压 soil 土 crushed under pressure 厂. Its radical form 厂 (cliff) appears in many related characters such as 原 (yuán, former), 厂 (chǎng, factory), 历 (lì, to experience).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to press
  2. to push down
  3. to keep under (control)

Etymology & Origin

压

ideographicSoil 土 crushed under pressure 厂

Decomposition: ⿸厂⿰土丶 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing 压 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 压

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
压力nounyā lìpressure4
血压nounxuè yāblood pressure6
减压verbjiǎn yāto reduce pressure6
压缩verbyā suōto compress6
压岁钱nounyā suì qiánmoney given to children as a gift on Chinese New Year's Eve5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
压抑verbyā yìto constrain or repress emotions
压迫verbyā pòto oppress
施压verbshī yāto pressure
气压nounqì yāatmospheric pressure
压倒verbyā dǎoto overwhelm
高压noungāo yā(physics) high pressure
镇压verbzhèn yāsuppression
电压noundiàn yāvoltage
挤压verbjǐ yāto squeeze
高血压noungāo xuè yāhigh blood pressure
压低verbyā dīto lower (one's voice)
压根儿yà gēn rerhua variant of 壓根|压根
压榨verbyā zhàto press
加压verbjiā yāto pressurize
液压nounyè yāhydraulic pressure
100
Total compounds
41
As first character
48
As last character
11
As middle character

压 appears in 100 compound words: 41 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 压 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

气qì
0.60821,772 co-occurrences
挤jǐ
0.5671,848 co-occurrences
低dī
0.56318,724 co-occurrences
缩suō
0.55512,657 co-occurrences
涡wō
0.5471,652 co-occurrences
镇zhèn
0.53218,528 co-occurrences
带dài
0.5039,488 co-occurrences
迫pò
0.5026,250 co-occurrences
力lì
0.47230,601 co-occurrences
壳qiào
0.4701,124 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

高压手段gāo yā shǒu duànHSK 4+

high-handed (measures); with a heavy hand

phrase
减压程序jiǎn yā chéng xùHSK 4+

decompression schedule

phrase
艺不压身yìbùyāshēnHSK 4+

Skills and arts are not a burden to a person; Learn more skills and arts

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个压字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě yā zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "压" carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

TechnewsFeb 2026

高市带领自民党大胜背后:债市与汇市的双重压力正迎面而来

gāo shì dài lǐng zì mín dǎng dà shèng bèi hòu : zhài shì yǔ huì shì de shuāng chóng yā lì zhèng yíng miàn ér lái

Behind the victory led by the Liberal Democratic Party: the dual pressure of the bond market and the foreign exchange market is coming

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...邦AI报告震撼华尔街 支付与软体股全面承压

. . . bāng A I bào gào zhèn hàn huá ěr jiē zhī fù yǔ ruǎn tǐ gǔ quán miàn chéng yā

... Bang AI report shocked Wall Street, and payment and software stocks were under full pressure

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

川普施压伊朗恐有反效果 使中东陷入新动荡

chuān pǔ shī yā yī lǎng kǒng yǒu fǎn xiào guǒ shǐ zhōng dōng xiàn rù xīn dòng dàng

Trump's pressure on Iran may have the opposite effect and plunge the Middle East into new turmoil

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...向球〉金马开红盘奔向3万4?两大变数酿短压 关注五大族群走势

. . . xiàng qiú jīn mǎ kāi hóng pán bēn xiàng 3 wàn 4 ? liǎng dà biàn shǔ niàng duǎn yā guān zhù wǔ dà zú qún zǒu shì

... Xiang Qiu〉 Golden Horse opened a red plate and ran to 30,000 4? Two major variables brew short-term pressure and pay attention to the trend of the five major groups

東森新聞Feb 2026

WBC/大联盟官网预测! 中华队晋级 力压南韩队

W B C dà lián méng guān wǎng yù cè ! zhōng huá duì jìn jí lì yā nán hán duì

WBC/Major League Baseball official website predictions! The Chinese team advanced to beat the South Korean team

Tatoeba

这个国家的政府压迫人民。

Zhège guójiā de zhèngfǔ yāpò rénmín.

The government of this country oppresses its people.

Tatoeba

我无法压抑心中的怒火。

Wǒ wúfǎ yāyì xīnzhōng de nùhuǒ.

I couldn't keep my anger down.

Tatoeba

计划受到舆论的压力而被取消了。

Jìhuà shòudào yúlùn de yālì ér bèi qǔxiāo le.

The plan was given up under the pressure of public opinion.

Tatoeba

橡皮不硬:它在压力下会变形。

Xiàngpí bù yìng: tā zài yālì xià huì biànxíng.

Rubber is not hard: it gives way to pressure.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 压 (yā) mean in Chinese?
压 (yā) primarily means "to press." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #756 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 压 and 拉?
压 (yā) and 拉 (lā) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 压 (push) vs 拉 (pull).
How many strokes does 压 have?
压 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 压?
The radical associated with 压 is 厂 (cliff). This radical appears in many characters related to cliff.
What are the components of 压?
压 is composed of: 厂 (structural), 土 (structural), 丶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂⿰土丶 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 压?
Common words with 压 include: 压力 (yā lì, "pressure"); 血压 (xuè yā, "blood pressure"); 压抑 (yā yì, "to constrain or repress emotions"); 压迫 (yā pò, "to oppress"); 施压 (shī yā, "to pressure"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 压 (yā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yā: 亚 (Asia), 呀 (ah (used to express surprise)), 牙 (tooth), 押 (to mortgage), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 压 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 压 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 压 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.