让

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 让 (ràng) is composed of two parts: the radical 讠 (yán), which indicates that the character is related to speech or language, and the phonetic component 让 (ràng), which provides the character with its pronunciation. The original meaning of 让 is "to yield" or "to give way", which is related to the idea of using words to persuade or convince someone to do something. Over time, the meaning of 让 has expanded to include other related concepts such as "to allow", "to permit", "to let", and "to make way for". In modern Chinese, 让 is commonly used in polite requests, suggestions, and invitations, as well as in the sense of "to give up" or "to sacrifice".