抑制
yìzhì · HSK 7
to inhibit; to keep down
✋ 抑 (press down) + 制 (control) = press down and control = restrain, suppress
抑 means to press down or hold back, and 制 means to control or regulate. Together they describe holding something down and keeping it in check, hence to forbear, restrain, or govern an impulse.
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.