悬崖勒马

Traditional: 懸崖勒馬

xuán yá lè mǎ

Dictionary entry

lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom)

What does 悬崖勒马 mean?

悬崖勒马 (xuán yá lè mǎ) has the following dictionary meaning.

1lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom)

2fig. to act in the nick of time

Character breakdown

Open each character to see its own meanings and vocabulary links.

悬xuánto hang or suspend · to worry 崖yáprecipice · cliff 勒lè(literary) bridle; halter; headstall · to rein in 马Mǎsurname Ma · abbr. for Malaysia 馬來西亞|马来西亚[Ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4]

Reviewed examples

No reviewed example dialogues yet. This page only shows verified dictionary data until a context lesson is published.

How to pronounce 悬崖勒马

悬崖勒马

xuán yá lè mǎ

Tap to hear Standard Mandarin.

Base dictionary data: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0.