Chinese character 让

It can mean “let,” “allow,” “make,” or “yield,” depending on context. In 让路, someone makes way; in 让座, someone offers or gives up a seat. In other sentences, 让 can permit or cause an action, and some frames make the person or thing receiving that action the subject.

Does 让 mean let or make?

Both; the sentence decides whether it permits or compels. In 我让他走, the person after 让 performs the next action, but the frame alone does not tell you whether the speaker allowed it or told them to do it.

A passive-like reading makes the subject the affected party. In 我的计划让老师否决了, the plan receives the action: “My plan was rejected by the teacher.” Translating every 让 as “let” assigns the roles incorrectly.

If permission and instruction have different consequences, ask what the sender meant. In your own writing, use 被 or name the agent when a passive sentence could leave the roles unclear.

The older word reaches beyond permission

The traditional form 讓 is attested in pre-Qin texts for yielding, giving precedence, and ritual deference. Shuowen, an early Chinese dictionary, glosses it as mutual reproach.

Later uses include ceding, stepping back, allowing, and inviting. Modern Mandarin uses 让 to permit or cause actions, and some frames also have a passive-like reading; this range does not prove one straight path from ancient ritual deference to every modern use.