英：bar;法：bare
“杠”这一术语在1957年首度出现于拉康的著作，当时它是在对索绪尔的符号 (SIGN)概念进行讨论的语境下被引入的（E, 149)。在此一语境下，杠是在索绪尔式算法 (Saussurean algorithm)中将能指与所指分离开来的那道横线 (见：图18)，并且代表着只能在隐喻中被跨越的那种意指中所固有的阻抗。“杠”(bae)在法语中是对“树”(abr℃)进行字母易位的一则字谜游戏，拉康对此喜闻乐见，因为索绪尔恰恰是用一棵“树”来闸明他自己的符号概念的 (E, 154).
在该术语首度出现于其中的这篇1957年的文章之后不久，即在1957一1958年度的研讨班上，拉康继而又用杠画穿了他的代数学符号S与A, 其方式令人联想到海德格尔画去“存在”(being)一词的做法 (见：Heidegger, 1956)。杠被用来画穿S, 以产生S, 即“被画杠的主体”(barred subject)。杠在这里代表着主体遭到语言的割裂，即分裂 (SPLT)。因而，尽管在1957年以前，S指代主体 (例如：在L图式中)，但是从1957年开始，S就指代能指，而S则指代（割裂的）主体。杠同样被用来画穿A（大他者），以产生表示“被画杠的大他者”(barred Other)的代数学符号A。然而，拉康继续在其代数学中使用这两个符号 (例如：在欲望图解中)。被画杠的大他者是遭阉割的、不完整的、由一个缺失所标记的大他者，而与之相对的那一完整的、一致的、不受阉割的大他者，即一个不被画杠的A, 则是不存在的。
在1973年，杠则被用来画穿定冠词“1a”，只要该定冠词出现在名词“女人”(femme)的前面，譬如拉康的著名格言“女人不存在”(a femme n'existe pas)。定冠词在法语中表示普遍性，而拉康则通过将其划去来阐明自己的论题，即女性特质 (femininity)是抵制所有形式的普遍化的 (见：S20,68).
除了这些功能以外，杠还可以被解释为象征的阳具（象征的阳具本身是从来不被画杠的）、在性化公式中表示否定的符号 (见：性别差异[SEXUAL DIFFERENCE])以及“单一特征”(trait unaire)(见：认同[IDENTIFICATION])。
(barre) The term'bar'first appears in Lacan's work in 1957, where it is introduced in thecontext of a discussion of Saussure's concept of the SIGN (E, 149). In this context, thebar is the line that separates the signifier from the signified in the Saussurean algorithm (see Figure 18), and stands for the resistance inherent in signification which is onlycrossed in metaphor. Lacan takes pleasure in the fact that, in French, barre is an anagramof arbre (tree), since it is precisely with a tree that Saussure illustrates his own concept ofthe sign (E, 154).
Not long after the 1957 paper in which the term first appears, in the seminar of 1957-8, Lacan goes on to use the bar to strike through his algebraic symbols S and A in amanner reminiscent of Heidegger's practice of crossing out the word being' (see Heidegger, 1956). The bar is used to strike through the Sto produce, the barredsubject'. The bar here represents the division of the subject by language, the SPLIT. Thuswhereas before 1957 S designates the subject (e.g.in schema L), from 1957 on Sdesignates the signifier and Sdesignates the (divided) subject. The bar is also used tostrike through the A (the big Other) to produce the algebraic notation for the 'barred Other',A.However, Lacan continues to use both signs in his algebra (e.g.in the graphof desire). The barred Other is the Other insofar as it is castrated, incomplete, marked bya lack, as opposed to the complete, consistent, uncastrated Other, an un-barred A, whichdoes not exist.
In 1973 the bar is used to strike through the definite article la whenever it precedes thenoun femme (woman), as in Lacan's famous phrase lafemmen'existe pas ('woman doesnot exist'). The definite article in French indicates universality, and by crossing it out Lacan illustrates his thesis that femininity is resistant to all forms of generalisation (see S20,68)
In addition to these functions, the bar can also be interpreted as the symbolic phallus (which itself is never barred), as the symbol of negation in the formulae of sexuation (seeSEXUAL DIFFERENCE), and as the trait unaire (see IDENTIFICATION).