英：Borromean knot; 法：noeud borromeen
早在1950年代，对于扭结的提及便可见于拉康的著作（例如：E, 281), 然而直至1970年代早期，拉康才开始根据这些扭结的拓扑学属性来考察它们。有关扭结理论的研究标志着拉康拓扑学 (TOPOLOGY)中的一项重要发展：拉康从曲面（莫比乌斯带、圆环面等）的研究走向了复杂得多的扭结拓扑学的领域。拓扑学日益被看作探究象征秩序及其与实在界和想象界的交互作用的一种在根本上是非隐喻性的方式：拓扑学即结构，而非仅仅是表征结构。在其著作的晚期，相比于其他的扭结，有一种扭结更多地引起了拉康的兴趣，即博洛米结。
博洛米结 (如图1所示)是把三个圆环以这样一种方式联结成一组，如果割断其中的任一圆环，所有三个圆环就会分离开来，而之所以这样命名它，则是因为这种图形被发现于博洛米欧 (BoomCo)家族的徽章上 (S20,112)。严格地讲，将此种图形称作一个链条面非一个扭结或许是更加恰当的，因为它涉及的是若干不同线圈的相互联结，而一个扭结则仅仅由一条线绳而构成。尽管构成一条博洛米链至少需要三个线圈或圆环，然而其环数没有最大值：这种链条可以通过添加更多的圆环而得以无定限地延伸下去，但仍然保留其博洛米结的属性 (即如果切断其中的任一圆环，整个链条便会瓦解)。
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拉康在其1972一1973年度的研讨班上首次采用了博洛米结，但是他有关此种扭结的最详尽的讨论却出现在1974一1975年度的研讨班中。正是在这一期的研讨班上，拉康特别把博洛米结用作一种方式来图解实在界、象征界与想象界之间的相互依存，并以此种方式来探究这三种秩序之间的共同之处。每一圆环都代表着三大秩序中的一个，因而某些元素便可以被定位于这些圆环之间的交界。
在1975一1976年度的研讨班上，拉康继而把精神病描述为博洛米结的拆解，而且提出通过添加“圣状”(SINTHOME)的第四环而把其他三个圆环联结起来，在某些情况下可以防止博洛米结的此种精神病式的拆解。
(noeud borromeen) References to knots can be found in Lacan's work as early as the1950s (e.g.E, 281), but it is not until the early 1970s that Lacan begins to examine knotsfrom the point of view of their topological properties. The study of knot theory marks animportant development in Lacan's TOPOLOGY; from the study of surfaces (the moebiusstrip, the torus, etc.) Lacan moves to the much more complex area of the topology ofknots. Topology is increasingly seen as a radically non-metaphorical way of exploringthe symbolic order and its interactions with the real and the imaginary; rather than simplyrepresenting structure, topology is that structure. In this late period of his work, one kindof knot comes to interest Lacan more than any other: the Borromean knot.
The Borromean knot (shown in Figure 1), so called because the figure is found on thecoat of arms of the Borromeo family, is a group of three rings which are linked in such away that if any one of them is severed, all three become separated (S20,112). Strictlyspeaking, it would be more appropriate to refer to this figure as a chain rather than a knot, since it involves the interconnection of several different threads, whereas a knot is formed by a single thread. Although a minimum of three threads or rings are required to form a Borromean chain, there is no maximum number; the chain may be extended indefinitely by adding furtherrings, while still preserving its Borromean quality (i.e.if any of the rings is cut, the wholechain falls apart).
Lacan first takes up the Borromean knot in the seminar of 1972-3, but his mostdetailed discussion of the knot comes in the seminar of 1974-5. It is in this seminar that Lacan uses the Borromean knot as, among other things, a way of illustrating theinterdependence of the three orders of the real, the symbolic and the imaginary, as a wayof exploring what it is that these three orders have in common. Each ring represents oneof the three orders, and thus certain elements can be located at intersections of theserings.
In the seminar of 1975-6, Lacan goes on to describe psychosis as the unravelling ofthe Borromean knot, and proposes that in some cases this is prevented by the addition ofa fourth ring, the S/NTHOME, which holds the other three together.