音読み: オウ
訓読み: おす・おさえる
画数: 8
部首: 扌（てへん）
Meaning
Push / Press / Seal / Stamp.
- 押す — to push / press
- 押さえる — to hold down / restrain
- 押印 — affixing a seal / stamping
- 押売り — (door-to-door) hard sell
- 強押し — strong push, forceful approach
- 押収 — seizure / confiscation
押 is the hand radical 扌 plus a phonetic part that gives the sound オウ. With the hand in front, the meaning follows: to push or press with the hand. From there it extends to stamping a seal (押印) and “press-and-hold” ideas like 押さえる (to hold something down, to keep under control).
Think of a door: one side says 押す — push — the other says 引く — pull. Pairing 押 with 引 in your head gives a crisp contrast: hand forward to push, hand backward to pull. The “push” feeling makes 押 easy to remember.
Creates
押収 — seizure / confiscation (to “press and collect”).