A wooden crosspiece fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to a plow or cart.
They yoked the oxen and plowed the field.
constraints; oppression; shackles
Figurative use for something that restricts freedom, like a burden or oppressive force.
I want to break free from the shackles of tradition.
頸木 is the native Japanese term for the same crosspiece used to yoke animals together, and is also the more common word for the figurative 'yoke of oppression'; ヨーク is a katakana loanword often used in historical or Western-context descriptions.
Usually written in kana. The kanji forms are rare or search-only.
Rare kanji form; mainly encountered in historical or technical contexts.
Rarely used kanji form.
Rarely used kanji form.
The word is native Japanese. The kanji 軛 specifically means 'yoke', while other forms are variant spellings. The figurative sense developed from the physical yoke as a symbol of subjugation.