摁 (èn): to press (with a finger or hand)

Meanings

1 to press (with a finger or hand)
2 to push down

Characters

摁

èn

to press down with the hand

Examples

摁一下这个按钮。

Èn yīxià zhège ànniǔ.

Press this button.

他用力摁住伤口止血。

Tāyòng lì èn zhù shāngkǒu zhǐxuè.

He pressed hard on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Tips

usage

摁 is colloquial and emphasizes physical pressing with the hand or finger. More formal/neutral alternatives are 按 (àn) or 压 (yā). Common in spoken Chinese, especially in northern dialects.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left hand radical — side-form of 手 (Kangxi #64). Anchors 摁 in the hand-action family. 摁 is specifically the verb for pressing down with a finger or thumb — pushing a doorbell, a touchscreen, a stamp onto paper. Sister verbs: 按 (press), 推 (push), 摸 (touch), 戳 (poke). The radical declares 'something the hand does' immediately.

phonetic

恩 ēn

kindness; grace (here phonetic)

Right 恩 supplies the sound — ēn shifted to èn, only tone differs. 恩 itself stacks 因 (cause) over 心 (heart) for 'cause-of-heart, kindness'; here the meaning doesn't carry. Pure phonetic. 摁 is mostly colloquial and modern, much rarer than its near-synonym 按, but distinguished by being specifically finger-pressing. 摁门铃 'press the doorbell' is the classic example.