憋 (biē): to hold back; to suppress

Meanings

1 to hold back; to suppress
2 to feel stifled or suffocated

Characters

憋

biē

to hold back; to stifle; to suppress

Examples

HSK 1

别憋着，有什么话就说。

Bié biē zhe, yǒu shénme huà jiù shuō.

Don't bottle it up, just say what's on your mind.

HSK 2

他憋了半天才说出来。

Tā biē le bàntiān cái shuō chūlai.

He held it in for a long time before finally saying it.

HSK 6

我快憋不住了，厕所在哪儿？

Wǒ kuài biē búzhù le, cèsuǒ zài nǎr?

I can barely hold it in, where's the bathroom?

Tips

usage

憋 is very versatile: 憋尿 (hold in urine), 憋气 (hold your breath), 憋屈 (feel stifled/wronged). The core idea is always something being trapped inside that needs to come out.

Components

radical

心 xīn

heart; mind

Bottom heart radical - the indexing component. 憋 is fundamentally an emotional/internal state: holding the breath, suppressing speech, smothering frustration. The heart anchors all those bottled-up sensations, putting 憋 in a family with 忍 (endure), 怒 (anger), 急 (anxious).

phonetic

敝 bì

worn out; broken; my (humble)

Top 敝 supplies the sound (bì → biē, drifted within the same labial family) and a faint flavor of damaged/exhausted - fitting for the squeezed-down feeling of holding something in. Same phonetic family powers 蔽 (cover up), 弊 (harm), 鳖 (turtle).