抑塞

yìsè
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 depressed
  2. 2 gloomy
  3. 3 stifled / pent up

Examples

HSK 2
Tā xīnzhōng yìsè, bàntiān shuō bù chū huà lái.
His heart was so heavy he couldn't speak for a long while.
HSK 7-9
Xiōngzhōng yìsè zhī qíng zhōngyú zài shī zhōng qīngxiè ér chū.
The pent-up feelings in his chest finally poured out in a poem.

Tips

usage
抑塞 is literary and uncommon in modern speech - the everyday word for 'depressed / gloomy' is 郁闷 or 压抑. 抑塞 specifically captures a feeling of being internally stifled or pent up, as if something can't get out; you'll mostly see it in classical poetry and literary prose.
mistakes
has three readings - sāi (to plug, everyday), sài (frontier fortress, as in 塞翁失马), sè (literary 'to block / stifle'). In 抑塞 it's sè, the literary reading. Reading it as yì-sāi will sound off.

Stroke Order

sāi