弓
Tap the pinyin to hear it
a bow (weapon); CL:張|张[zhang1]; to bend; to arch (one's back etc)
- HSK 3.0
- Level 7–9
- Strokes
- 3
- Radical
- 弓 itself
- Structure
- Single component 独体
- Traditional
- 弓
- Common rank
- #1,559
- Unicode
- U+5F13
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 弓 is formed
Pictograph (象形字)
A bow aimed to the left
How to remember it
bow · Heisig RSH #1013
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 弓
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 开弓没有回头箭 | lit. once you've shot the arrow, there's no getting it back (idiom); fig. once you started… | |
| 角弓反张 | opitoshtonous (med.), muscular spasm of the body associated with tetanus and meningitis | |
| 伤弓之鸟 | see 驚弓之鳥|惊弓之鸟[jing1 gong1 zhi1 niao3] | |
| 集电弓 | pantograph (transportation) | |
| 惊弓之鸟 | (lit.) a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow (idiom); (fig.) sb who frightens easily,… | |
| 开弓不放箭 | lit. to draw the bow without shooting the arrow (idiom); fig. to bluff; to be all talk and… | |
| 高弓足 | high-arched feet | |
| 复合弓 | composite bow (archery) | |
| 受电弓 | pantograph (transportation) | |
| 反曲弓 | (archery) recurve bow | |
| 弓长岭区 | Gongchangling, a district of Liaoyang City 遼陽市|辽阳市[Liao2 yang2 Shi4], Liaoning | |
| 弓形虫 | Toxoplasma gondii | |
| 鸟尽弓藏 | lit. the birds are over, the bow is put away (idiom); fig. to get rid of sb once he has se… | |
| 霸王硬上弓 | to force oneself upon sb (idiom); to rape | |
| 长弓 | longbow | |
| 开弓 | to draw a bow; to pull back a bowstring | |
| 角弓 | bow decorated with animal horns | |
| 弓身 | to bend the body at the waist; to bow | |
| 弓形 | circular segment | |
| 左右开弓 | lit. to shoot from both sides (idiom); fig. to display ambidexterity; to slap with one han… |
Sound family
These characters use 弓 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弓 sound part | bow; curved, arched | |
| 芎 | Szechuan lovage rhizome |