遏 (è): to restrain

Meanings

1 to restrain
2 to check, hold back
3 to suppress, stop

Characters

遏

è

to restrain, hold back

Examples

HSK 7-9

他怒不可遏,大声喊了起来。

Tā nùbùkě'è, dàshēng hǎn le qǐlái.

Unable to restrain his anger, he started shouting.

HSK 7-9

政府正在努力遏制疫情的蔓延。

Zhèngfǔ zhèngzài nǔlì èzhì yìqíng de mànyán.

The government is working to curb the spread of the epidemic.

Tips

usage

遏 is mostly bound - used in compounds like 遏制 ('to contain/curb') and 遏止 ('to stop'). Standalone uses are literary: 怒不可遏 ('rage that cannot be checked').

Components

radical

辶 chuò

to walk; motion (radical form of 辵)

Motion radical wrapping the bottom-left, the indexing radical. It marks 遏 as an action of going-and-stopping - files it with 进 advance, 退 retreat, 阻 block. The semantic move is 'to walk up and check someone's progress', the core image behind 'restrain; hold back'.

phonetic

曷 hé

what; how

Upper-right 曷 supplies the sound - hé shifted to è in this character's reading. The 'what; why' interrogative meaning is dormant here. 曷 also seeds 渴 thirsty, 喝 drink, 揭 lift - all carrying versions of this same phonetic root.