Chinese word

榨

Pronunciation

Pinyinzhà

Meaning

  • verbsqueeze

Example

我把橙子榨成汁。wǒ bǎ chéng zi zhà chéng zhī

I squeezed the orange into juice.

Illustration for 榨 (squeeze)

More examples

她把毛巾榨干了。tā bǎ máo jīn zhà gàn le

She wrung the towel dry.

Core concept

Presses solid food or raw material until its liquid or oil runs out.

Common phrases

  • 榨汁zhà zhī

    extract juice

  • 榨干zhà gàn

    wring dry

  • 把榨成汁bǎ zhà chéng zhī

    squeeze into juice

Similar words

挤jǐ: Push people or things tightly into a small or crowded space.
压yā: Press down on something with force.
压榨yā zhà: Press material strongly to squeeze out its liquid or useful components.
榨取zhà qǔ: Forcefully take money, benefits, or other things from someone.

Definition in Chinese

用器具或机器对食物或原料施加压力以榨出其中的液体或油，通常指物理的压榨。yòng qì jù huò jī qì duì shí wù huò yuán liào shī jiā yā lì yǐ zhà chū qí zhōng de yè tǐ huò yóu tōng cháng zhǐ wù lǐ de yā zhà

Word origin

The character 榨 (zhà, "squeeze") uses 木 (mù, "wood") as a meaning component and 窄 (zhǎi, "narrow") as its sound component, reflecting the traditional wooden pressing tool.

Usage tips

  • This verb is narrower than the broad English idea of squeezing: it usually suggests extracting liquid or oil from material rather than merely compressing something for a moment.

Opposites

Related words

  • 榨取zhà qǔexploitverb
  • 榨汁机zhà zhī jījuice extractornoun

Word lists with this word