抑制
よくせい · yokusei · JLPT N1 · noun
control
🛑 抑 = press down + 制 = control: pressing down to keep something in check is restraint
抑 means press down or hold back, and 制 means control or regulate. Together they describe keeping something in check, the core of both restraint and suppression.
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.