掣 (chè): to pull back

Meanings

1 to pull back
2 to draw (back)
3 to impede
4 to flash past

Characters

掣

chè

to pull / draw back / flash

Examples

他掣肘了整个计划。

Tā chè zhǒu le zhěnggè jìhuà.

He hampered the entire plan.

闪电掣过天空。

Shǎndiàn chè guò tiānkōng.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

Tips

usage

掣 is mainly seen in literary or classical compounds. The most common is 掣肘, literally 'to pull someone's elbow,' meaning to hinder or obstruct. Standalone 掣 is rare in modern speech.

Components

radical

手 shǒu

hand

Hand at the bottom, the indexing radical, in its full four-stroke form rather than the side-variant 扌. 掣 names a sharp pulling or yanking action, the hand jerking something back. Kin to 拉 to pull, 拽 to drag, 抽 to draw out, 揪 to grab.

phonetic

制 zhì

to restrain; control

Top 制 supplies the sound, zhì drifting to chè through a regular zh/ch alternation. 制 also pulls semantic weight: it means to restrain, exactly the meaning 掣 takes in 掣肘 to hold back by the elbow. Top says control, bottom says hand, full char says to yank back.