About
The character for "挤", meaning to squeeze, crowd, or press, originates from its traditional form "擠", which combines the hand radical (扌) with the component "齊" (meaning even or together). This structure etymologically suggests the action of using the hand to bring things into alignment or close proximity, conveying a sense of concerted pressure or compression. Over time, its application broadened from the physical act of pressing objects together to describe the experience of being in a dense crowd, as well as metaphorical uses like squeezing out time or resources. The modern simplified form retains the hand radical but replaces the complex "齊" with the simpler "齐", maintaining the core concept of directed force applied to create tightness or condensation, while the semantic range has comfortably expanded to include both literal and figurative instances of constrained space or effort.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
地铁里很拥挤。
早上公交车很挤。
人们挤进了电梯。
他挤出了人群。
超市里挤满了顾客。
为了看表演，大家都挤向前。
在高峰时间，地铁车厢挤得让人难受。
尽管空间狭窄，他还是挤了过去。