押 (yā): to mortgage, to pawn, to detain in custody

押 (yā) is a Chinese character meaning “to mortgage.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 甲 (phonetic). It ranks #1758 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 押 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to mortgage
  2. to pawn
  3. to detain in custody

Etymology & Origin

押

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌甲 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 押

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
押金nounyā jīndeposit5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
抵押verbdǐ yāto provide (an asset) as security for a loan
关押verbguān yāto imprison
扣押verbkòu yāto detain
押韵verbyā yùnto rhyme
收押verbshōu yāin custody
押送verbyā sòngto convey (a prisoner or valuable items etc) under escort
羁押verbjī yāto detain
押运verbyā yùnto escort (goods or funds)
抵押品noundǐ yā pǐnsecurity (property held against a loan)
拘押verbjū yāto arrest
押解verbyā jièto send away under escort (criminals, goods etc)
看押verbkān yāto detain
画押verbhuà yāto sign
抵押物noundǐ yā wùcollateral (finance)
押车yā chēto escort (goods) during transportation
33
Total compounds
42
As first character
39
As last character
18
As middle character

押 appears in 33 compound words: 42 as the first character, 39 as the last, and 18 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 押 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

扣kòu
0.5726,304 co-occurrences
钧jūn
0.56911 co-occurrences
渝yú
0.53410 co-occurrences
关guān
0.5099,624 co-occurrences
抵dǐ
0.5034,561 co-occurrences
贷dài
0.502503 co-occurrences
拘jū
0.4861,332 co-occurrences
韵yùn
0.471652 co-occurrences
送sòng
0.4573,458 co-occurrences
被bèi
0.43613,204 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

押照镜子,整理一下自己的仪容。

yā zhào jìng zǐ , zhěng lǐ yī xià zì jǐ de yí róng .

Check your reflection in the mirror and tidy up your appearance.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

基隆检察官涉放高利贷羁押禁见 学者叹:损害司法人员形象

jī lóng jiǎn chá guān shè fàng gāo lì dài 羁 yā jīn jiàn xué zhě tàn : sǔn hài sī fǎ rén yuán xíng xiàng

Keelung prosecutor involved in usury detention and ban Scholars sighed: Damaging the image of judicial personnel

中国军网Feb 2026

巍巍昆仑之上,有一个个把青春和生命抵押给雪山的人

巍 巍 kūn 仑 zhī shàng , yǒu yī gè gè bǎ qīng chūn hé shēng mìng dǐ yā gěi xuě shān de rén

On the majestic Kunlun, there are people who pledge their youth and lives to the snow-capped mountains

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

美抵押贷款利率跌破6% 为2022年以来最低

měi dǐ yā dài kuǎn lì lǜ diē pò 6 wéi 2 0 2 2 nián yǐ lái zuì dī

U.S. mortgage rates fell below 6%, the lowest since 2022

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

美国总统川普国情咨文 跃热门押注标的

měi guó zǒng tǒng chuān pǔ guó qíng zī wén yuè rè mén yā zhù biāo de

U.S. President Trump's State of the Union address jumped to the hot bet target

InvestingFeb 2026

押风口!这些基金经理四季度就预测机器人板块...

yā fēng kǒu ! zhè xiē jī jīn jīng lǐ sì jì dù jiù yù cè jī qì rén bǎn kuài . . .

Press the wind! These fund managers predicted the robot sector in the fourth quarter...

Tatoeba

萨米的包被警察扣押了。

Sàmǐ de bāo bèi jǐngchá kòuyā le.

Sami's bag was seized by police.

Tatoeba

难以抵抗给句子押韵的愿望。

Nányǐ dǐkàng gěi jùzi yāyùn de yuànwàng.

It's hard to resist the wish to make the sentence rhyme.

Tatoeba

我在这匹马上押五英镑的赌注。

Wǒ zài zhè pǐ mǎ shàng yā wǔ Yīngbàng de dǔzhù.

I bet five pounds on the horse.

Tatoeba

你必须付三个月的房租作为押金。

Nǐ bìxū fù sān gè yuè de fángzū zuòwéi yājīn.

You have to give three months' rent as a deposit.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced yā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 押 (yā) mean in Chinese?
押 (yā) primarily means "to mortgage." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1758 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 押 and 钾?
押 (yā) and 钾 (jiǎ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 钅 (same 甲 component).
How many strokes does 押 have?
押 is written with 8 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 押?
The radical associated with 押 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 押?
押 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 甲 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌甲 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 押?
Common words with 押 include: 抵押 (dǐ yā, "to provide (an asset) as security for a loan"); 关押 (guān yā, "to imprison"); 扣押 (kòu yā, "to detain"); 押韵 (yā yùn, "to rhyme"); 收押 (shōu yā, "in custody"). There are over 33 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 押 (yā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yā: 鸭 (duck), 亚 (Asia), 压 (to press), 呀 (ah (used to express surprise)), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 押 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 押 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 押 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.