引き止める
ひきとめる · hikitomeru · JLPT N2 · verb-ichidan
to hold back
🛑 引く (pull) + 止める (stop) = pull back and stop: to keep back, hold back
引く means pull and 止める means stop. Together, 引き止める means to pull someone or something back so it cannot move on, which gives the senses keep back, prevent, and hold back.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.
止 — pictograph of a foot/toe
止 originally depicted a human foot with toes, shown as a footprint on the ground. From this concrete image of a foot it came to mean 'to stop' or 'halt' — the place where a step ends. It also serves as a component in many characters relating to feet, walking, or stopping, such as 步 and 正.