压制
yāzhì · HSK 7
suppress
🗜️ 压 (press) + 制 (control) = press down to control = suppress
压 means press or push down; 制 means control or restrain. Together they mean to press something down in order to keep it under control: suppress, stifle, inhibit.
压 — 厂 (cliff) + 土 (earth) below
压 is the simplified form of 壓. The original character combined 厭 (phonetic, suggesting 'yā') with 土 (earth) to mean pressing or weighing down on the ground. The modern simplified form keeps 厂 (a cliff or overhang) above 土, visually evoking earth being pressed under a heavy mass.
制 — knife 刂 + 未 (tree branches)
Originally depicted a knife 刂 cutting branches from a tree, showing the act of trimming or shaping wood. From this concrete sense of cutting to size came the meanings 'to make,' 'to manufacture,' and by extension 'to control' or 'regulate' — shaping things to a desired form.