让 calligraphy

让

to yield; to permit; to let sb do sth; to have sb do sth; to make sb (feel sad etc); by (indicates the agent in a passive clause, like 被[bei4])

Closest English meanings

let·yield·allow·give way

The Calligrapher — Zhì Yǒng 智永

Sui monk who spread Wang Xizhi's art via his 'Thousand Characters'.

Sui calligrapher (生卒年不详(陈/隋)), master of regular script/cursive script — monk and seventh-generation descendant of Wang Xizhi who wrote a thousand copies of the Thousand Character Classic to pass the family hand down. Sui dynasty

Cultural Story

Confucius was remembered by his disciples as gentle, calm, courteous, frugal, and rang, yielding. The fifth of those virtues, wen liang gong jian rang, made stepping back a form of greatness, the courtesy of giving the path to another. The character joins words to a sound of retreat; to rang was to decline the front place at the table, the louder voice, the first reward. It is the quiet etiquette that lets a room hold more than one proud person.

Common words & phrases

  • 让座 offer seat
  • 让步 concede · yield
  • 让路 make way · yield
  • 让开 step aside
  • 谦让 modest · yield
  • 忍让 forbear · give in

Read the story behind the character

In the modern world

A rider rang zuo, gives up a seat, to an elder on the bus; a firm rang bu, concedes, in the negotiation; a car rang lu, makes way, for the ambulance; a crowd rang kai, steps aside, for the procession; a host qian rang, modestly yields, the honor; a neighbor ren rang, forbears, a small slight. The character is the daily grammar of courtesy, the hundred small retreats that keep strangers from becoming enemies on a staircase.

Own this character

Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Zhì Yǒng 智永, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.