約束

简 约束 · 繁 約束
Mandarin · pinyin yuē shù

Meanings

  1. to restrict
  2. to limit to
  3. to constrain
  4. restriction
  5. constraint
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Characters in this entry

約
yuē · treaty, agreement, covenant
束
shù · bind, control, restrain; bale
约
yuē · treaty, agreement, covenant
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–4 · yue1 shu4

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

約束 · find source passages ↗ · 约束 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 5 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

joek3 cuk1

Cantonese word readings for 約束. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

  1. to restrict; to restrain
  2. (literary) to agree upon; to appoint; to settle on
  3. (archaic) to bind with a rope

noun

  1. (mathematics) constraint
  2. (databases) constraint

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack