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懸崖勒馬

简悬崖勒马 · 繁懸崖勒馬

Mandarin · pinyin xuán yá lè mǎ

lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom)
fig. to act in the nick of time

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Characters in this entry

懸: Look up this written character
崖: yá · cliff, precipice; precipitous
勒: lēi · strangle, tighten
馬: Look up this written character
悬: xuán · hang, suspend, hoist; be hung
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–4–3 · xuan2 ya2 le4 ma3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

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懸崖勒馬 · find source passages ↗ · 悬崖勒马 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jyun4 ngaai4 lak6 maa5

Cantonese word readings for 懸崖勒馬. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to desist from doing something before it is too late; to pull back before it is too late

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

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