Welsh Word of the Day: Gwasgu (to squeeze / to press)

Gwasgu is a verb that, in most cases, means to squeeze or to press, although the range of situations it can be used in extends much further!

It comes from the proto-Celtic *wedsk, which is also the root of words in other Celtic languages like fáisc in Irish and gwaska in Cornish.

And there are also more verbs in Welsh that have derived from it, formed with different prefixes, like dirwasgu (to press hard, to press down), from the prefix dir- (over-, hyper-), ymwasgu (to press close to someone), from the reflexive or reciprocal prefix ym-, and cywasgu (to compress, to squeeze together), from the prefix cy- (co-).

Gwasgu mutates like this:

And conjugates like this:

In its most basic sense, as introduced above, gwasgu means to squeeze or to press. For example, gwasgu botymau (pressing buttons), gwasgu potel (squeezing a bottle), or gwasgu sudd (pressing juice).

There is also pwyso which means press too, but the primary meaning is weigh and tends to be used as press when you’re trying to convey that something is pressing or weighing down on something else. To press something would be pwyso ar if you were going to use pwyso, whereas if you were using gwasgu you could choose whether or not to use ar as well, depending on the context.

In most contexts to do with teilwra (tailoring), gwasgu can be replaced with the loan word presio (to press), as in presio trwsus (pressing trousers) or presio gwnïad (pressing down a seam).

Gwasgu can also mean to compress, for example as of a clwyf (wound), to hug someone, to extort, to wring one’s hands or wet deunydd (fabric), to clench one’s dwrn (fist) or dannedd (teeth), to pinch, to constrict as a neidr (snake) does, or even to corner someone, as in the phrase gwasgu i’r cornel (press to the corner).

Lastly, there are emotional and metaphorical senses in which the word can be used, like to put pressure can in English. It can mean to put pressure, to weigh heavily, to stress, or to upset. In this sense it would usually be paired with the preposition ar, as pwyso is. For example, you could say mae’r atgofion cas yn gwasgu arna i (the bad memories are weighing on me / the bad memories are stressing me out).

Another way to use it is to gwasgu ar someone else, in which case it usually means to urge, though I think this sounds a bit formal. Rwy’n gwasgu arnoch i ymateb (I urge you to respond / I press on you to respond).

In this sense you can use pwyso too, or with a slightly different set-up, mynnu (to insist). The person in the previous example phrase is mynnu ymateb (insisting on a response).

Gwasgu has a few noun forms which differ depending on the context. Gwasgiad means a squeeze, often in the sense of a hug. If you add dir– to the beginning of gwasgiad, this causes a soft mutation and you get dirwasgiad, which refers to economic depression.

Gwasgedd means pressure, although you should use pwysedd instead when talking about blood pressure. And gwasgu itself can function as a noun for pressure too, as in gwasgu ariannol (financial pressure).

Gwasgfa is a particularly interesting word that is hard to express in English. It means a pang, a pain, a fit, or some other instance of physical upset and distress. Cael gwasgfa is one way of saying to faint which you may hear in North Wales. It doesn’t just apply to health, though – gwasgfa gredyd is how we say credit crunch.

This isn’t the only way we can use gwasgu to talk about the adfydau (hardships) of life, though. A good example of gwasgu applying in a non-literal sense is in the phrase mae’r esgid yn gwasgu, usually translated the shoe pinches.

In particular, there is an old saying:

This refers to how one person’s troubles might not be noticed or understood by others; you never know what someone else is going through.