Chinese Character Wiki
弓

gōng

bow

Pictograph of a bow for shooting arrows.

Evolution

弓 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
弓 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
弓 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
弓 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
弓 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

弓  

gōng

bow; curved, arched; KangXi radical number 57; a bow (weapon); CL:張|张[zhāng]; to bend; to arch (one's back etc)

弓  

Gōng

surname Gong

Most common words with 弓
Freq.
Word
Meaning

弓

to bend

弓箭

bow and arrow

弹弓

catapult

弓形

circular segment

惊弓之鸟

lit. a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow (idiom)

Component uses

Meaning component in 22 characters (12 verified)

彆 強 彊 强 张 張 彈 弹 彎 弯 彥 彦 弥 彌 疆 弦 弧 弛 弩 弮 弳 弪

Sound component in 4 characters (2 verified)

弘 躬 穹 芎

Iconic component in 4 characters (4 verified)

發 引 雋 隽

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*kʷəŋ

kjuwng

gōng

bow (n.)


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 3.0594% of movies

2573rd most common character in movies

2229th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

3

Unicode

U+5F13

Shuowen

“弓，以近窮遠。象形。”


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