Left hand presses a string silently milliseconds before the right hand plucks the string, producing a higher note than the string’s natural pitch. The left hand holds the string down until the end of the note, then relaxes, allowing the string to return to its natural pitch without an audible pitch slide.

This is a generic term for raising a string’s pitch by up to three half steps and does not refer to any specific string or pitch.

Anyin can be produced in a few ways:

A: Press and pluck the string at the same time.

B: Press the string, then pluck it without releasing it.

C: After the full duration of a note on an open string, press the string to the desired pitch level but do not pluck it again.

D: Same as C, but both press and release the string to match the rhythm of the music.

Ferguson also offers the names of Shí 实 (trad. 實) or Biāoshì àn 标示按 (trad. 標示按). Kwok offers the name dairou for when the string is bent all the way to the next note. Kao offers dingshihuayin 定时滑音 and attributes the name to Qiu Dacheng.

The second on the pentatonic scale is raised by a semitone. Believed to be a specific term for anyin performed on that specific string.

The left hand presses a string to raise the pitch more than a half step higher but less than a whole step.