让 (ràng): to let, to allow

让 (ràng) is a Chinese character meaning “to let, to allow.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 上 (phonetic). It ranks #339 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 让 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 认 (rèn, to recognize, to admit), 记 (jì, to remember, to record), 识 (shí, to know, knowledge).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to let, to allow

Etymology & Origin

让

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠上 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 让 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 让

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
转让verbzhuǎn ràngto transfer (ownership, rights etc)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
让开verbràng kāito get out of the way
让步verbràng bùto concede
让路verbràng lùto make way (for sth)
退让verbtuì ràngto move aside
让位verbràng wèito abdicate
出让verbchū ràngto transfer (one's property or rights to sb else)
忍让verbrěn ràngto exercise forbearance
让座verbràng zuòto give up one's seat for sb
谦让verbqiān ràngto modestly decline
阿比让proper-nounā bǐ ràngAbidjan (city in Ivory Coast)
互不相让phrasehù bù xiāng ràngneither giving way to the other
避让verbbì ràngto avoid
割让verbgē ràngto cede
让利verbràng lìto give a discount
当仁不让phrasedāng rén bù ràngto be unwilling to pass on one's responsibilities to others
49
Total compounds
29
As first character
57
As last character
14
As middle character

让 appears in 49 compound words: 29 as the first character, 57 as the last, and 14 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 让 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

割gē
0.5164,108 co-occurrences
们men
0.47111,820 co-occurrences
给gěi
0.4646,636 co-occurrences
转zhuǎn
0.4516,422 co-occurrences
刻kè
0.439122 co-occurrences
印yìn
0.412124 co-occurrences
圣shèng
0.4093,524 co-occurrences
禅chán
0.406562 co-occurrences
袱fú
0.40410 co-occurrences
他tā
0.40222,990 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

寸步不让cùnbùbùràngHSK 6+

to not make to slightest concession; to not yield even slightly

phrase
当仁不让dāngrénbùràngHSK 7+

to be unwilling to pass on one's responsibilities to others

phrase
拱手让人gǒngshǒuràngrénHSK 7+

to surrender something to someone submissively

phrase
互不相让hùbùxiāngràngHSK 4+

neither one giving way to the other

phrase
推贤让能tuī xián ràng néngHSK 7+

to cede to the virtuous and yield to the talented (idiom)

phrase
不遑多让bùhuángduōràngHSK 2+

to be by no means inferior

phrase

Showing 6 of 8 idioms containing 让.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请让一下,我要过去,谢谢。

Qǐng ràng yíxià, wǒ yào guòqu, xièxie.

Excuse me, please let me through, thank you.

百度新闻Feb 2026

当年轻人成为过年“主理人”,让团圆找到新载体

dāng nián qīng rén chéng wéi guò nián zhǔ lǐ rén , ràng tuán yuán zhǎo dào xīn zài tǐ

When young people become the "managers" of the New Year, let the reunion find a new carrier

百度新闻Feb 2026

...走基层|货运列车检车员:迟来的团圆,只为让更多..

. . . zǒu jī céng huò yùn liè chē jiǎn chē yuán : chí lái de tuán yuán , zhī wéi ràng gēng duō . .

... Freight train inspector: belated reunion, just to let more:

百度新闻Feb 2026

豫哈零碳协作,让河南产业援疆“沉下去”“实起来”

yù hā líng tàn xié zuò , ràng hé nán chǎn yè yuán jiāng chén xià qù shí qǐ lái

Yu-Ha zero-carbon collaboration, so that Henan's industrial aid "sinking" and "real up".

百度新闻Feb 2026

这场新春之约,让更多家庭感受到浓浓暖意

zhè chǎng xīn chūn zhī yāo , ràng gēng duō jiā tíng gǎn shòu dào nóng nóng nuǎn yì

This New Year gathering brought warmth to many families.

百度新闻Feb 2026

睿尔曼亮相北京卫视春晚,化身“新春大厨”让机器人走..

睿 ěr 曼 liàng xiāng běi jīng wèi shì chūn wǎn , huā shēn xīn chūn dà chú ràng jī qì rén zǒu . .

Rui'erman Appears on Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala, Transforming into a "New Year Chef" to Make Robots Walk...

Tatoeba

你叔叔让你开他的车了吗?

Nǐ shūshu ràng nǐ kāi tā de chē le ma?

Did your uncle let you drive his car?

Tatoeba

请让我看一下您的护照好吗?

Qǐng ràng wǒ kàn yīxià nín de hùzhào hǎo ma?

May I see your passport, please?

Tatoeba

可以让我骑一会儿这匹马吗?

Kěyǐ ràng wǒ qí yīhuìr zhè pǐ mǎ ma?

Can I ride this horse for a while?

Tatoeba

我该怎么做才能让你更注意我?

Wǒ gāi zěnme zuò cáinéng ràng nǐ gèng zhùyì wǒ?

What have I got to do so that you'll pay attention to me?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced ràng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 让 (ràng) mean in Chinese?
让 (ràng) primarily means "to let, to allow." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #339 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 让 have?
让 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 让?
The radical associated with 让 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 让?
让 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 上 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠上 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 让?
Common words with 让 include: 让开 (ràng kāi, "to get out of the way"); 让步 (ràng bù, "to concede"); 让路 (ràng lù, "to make way (for sth)"); 转让 (zhuǎn ràng, "to transfer (ownership, rights etc)"); 退让 (tuì ràng, "to move aside"). There are over 49 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 让 (ràng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ràng: 嚷 (to shout), 壤 ((bound form) soil), 攘 ((literary) to push up one's sleeves). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 让 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 让 and the traditional form is 讓.

Practice writing 让 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.