勒 (lè): to rein in

Meanings

1 to rein in
2 to compel; to force
3 to carve; to engrave
4 bridle; halter
5 to sketch the outline of

Characters

勒

lè

to rein in; to force; to engrave

Examples

悬崖勒马，还来得及。

Xuányá lè mǎ, hái láidejí.

Rein in the horse at the cliff's edge — there's still time.

他用几笔就勾勒出了山的轮廓。

Tā yòng jǐ bǐ jiù gōulè chū le shān de lúnkuò.

With a few strokes he sketched the outline of the mountain.

他被人勒索了一笔钱。

Tā bèi rén lèsuǒ le yì bǐ qián.

He was extorted out of a sum of money.

Tips

mistakes

勒 has two readings. The lè reading (this entry) covers the literary/written senses — rein in, force, engrave, sketch — and almost every loanword transliteration (希特勒, 多普勒, 巴勒斯坦). The sister reading 勒 is colloquial: a rope or strap physically binding. Quick test: 勒马 (rein in a horse) = lè; 绳子勒得太紧 (rope strapped too tight) = lēi.

memory

Leather (革) plus force (力) — a leather strap pulled tight by force. That picture grounds both readings: lè the bridle that restrains, lēi the cord that binds.

Components

radical

力 lì

strength; force

Right 力 — pictograph of a flexed arm or a plow muscled into the soil, meaning strength/force. Indexing radical here. Combined with 革 the picture is a leather strap pulled tight by force — exactly the rein-in / restrain / engrave senses of 勒.

semantic

革 gé

leather; hide

Left 革 — pictograph of a stretched animal hide (head, body, four limbs). The original 勒 meant a leather bridle for a horse, so the leather radical anchors the sense. Family: 鞋 (shoe), 鞍 (saddle), 鞭 (whip) — all leather goods. The leather strap is what does the restraining.

In Pop Culture

悬崖勒马 Xuányá lè mǎ

rein in the horse at the cliff's edge — pull back from the brink just in time

Stock idiom for last-minute course correction — used in news editorials and parental scoldings alike. The 勒 here is the bridle-rein sense, not the bind-tight one.