弓

弓 (radical 57, 弓+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 弓 (N), four-corner 1720₇, composition ⿱コ㇉)

1. Kangxi radical #57, ⼸.

• Index:Chinese radical/弓
• 發, 雋, 穹

• KangXi: page 356, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9692
• Dae Jaweon: page 671, character 22
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 987, character 11
• Unihan data for U+5F13

Historical forms of the character 弓
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) - pictographic representation of a bow.

Possibly related to Proto-Tibeto-Burman *kuːŋ (“tree, branch, stem”) (Coblin, 1986), semantically connected with the shape of a bent tree branch. Cognate with Burmese ကိုင် (kuing, “to bend over; to be bent”), အကိုင် (a.kuing, “stalk; branch”), Tedim Chin [script needed] (kung¹, “tree”), Jingpho kung (“to branch; to grow”), lakung (“branch; limb”), Lepcha [script needed] (kóng, “branch”), [script needed] (kúng, “tree”) (STEDT).

Schuessler (2007) proposes that both Old Chinese 弓 (OC *kʷɯŋ) and Proto-Tibeto-Burman *kuːŋ are derived from Proto-Mon-Khmer *koŋ, whence Nyah Kur [script needed] (kóoŋ, “bent (in the middle)”), Mon ကိုၚ် (“to be bent”), Khmer កោង (kaong, “to bend; to be bent”), Khasi pyrkhung (“to bend; to arch”), Pear kuŋ (“bend”), Vietnamese cong (“to be bent, curved”).

Also compare Proto-Tibeto-Burman *ku(ː)m (“arched; vaulted”)

Derivatives are 肱 (OC *kʷɯːŋ, “(upper) arm”) and 穹 (OC *kʰʷɯŋ, “arched; vault; sky”).

弓

1. bow (weapon)
2. curved; arched
3. to arch; to bend

• 箭 (jiàn)
• 矢 (shǐ)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: く (ku); くう (kū)
• Kan-on: きゅう (kyū, Jōyō)^{←きゅう (kyū, historical)}
• Kun: たらし (tarashi, 弓); ゆ (yu, 弓); ゆみ (yumi, 弓, Jōyō)
• Nanori: こ (ko); ゆ (yu)

From Old Japanese. In modern Japanese, only found as a prefix in compounds.[1][2]

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝ]

弓 (hiragana ゆ, rōmaji yu-)

1. a bow, a bow shape

弓 (yumi): Four different types of bow.

弓 (yu, yumi, tarashi, kyū): Japanese bows, arrows, and arrow-stand.

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū (c. 759 CE). A surface analysis suggests a combination of Old Japanese yu (see above) + suffixing element mi, itself of uncertain derivation.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) ゆみ​ [yùmíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3][2]
  • IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝmʲi]

弓 (hiragana ゆみ, rōmaji yumi)

1. a bow:
   1. (weaponry) a bow for shooting arrows
   2. (music) a bow for playing a stringed instrument such as a violin or cello
2. archery
3. (Shinto) a type of kagura (sacred Shinto song and dance) intended to drive away evil
4. short for 破 (は)魔 (ま)弓 (ゆみ) (hama yumi): a ceremonial archery bow with the power to dispel evil
5. a bow shape, a curve
6. a bow-shaped tool used to beat ginned cotton into a softer and finer textile

• (archery): 矢 (や, ​ya): an arrow

• ロングボウ (rongubō, “longbow”)

• 弓_(武器) on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja (archery)
• Yumi (Japanese archery bow) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 弓_(楽器) on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja (music)
• Bow_(music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Alteration from torashi, 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of verb torasu, from tora as the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of verb 取る (toru, “to take”) + す (su, honorific suffix in Old Japanese). Original meaning was “something kept to hand”.[1][2]

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ta̠ɾa̠ɕi]

• 執

弓 (hiragana たらし, rōmaji tarashi)

1. (rare, honorific) an archery bow, particularly one belonging to a noble

• 御%執 (み%たらし), 御 (み)弓 (たらし) (mitarashi)

From Middle Chinese 弓 (MC kɨuŋ).[1][2] Compare modern Mandarin 弓 (gōng).

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • (Tokyo) きゅ​う [kyúꜜù] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [kʲɨᵝː]

弓 (hiragana きゅう, rōmaji kyū)

1. (rare) a bow
2. (obsolete) in ancient Chinese archery, a unit of length for measuring the distance between the archer and the target; one kyū was equal to six 尺 (shaku), roughly six feet or 182 centimeters
3. (obsolete) in ancient China, a unit of length for surveying land; one kyū was equal to eight 尺 (shaku), roughly eight feet or 242 centimeters

In modern Japanese, the reading kyū is most often found in compounds.

弓 • (gung)

• Eumhun:
  • Sound (hangeul): 궁
  • Name (hangeul): 활

1. (활:궁, hwal:gung): bow (for shooting arrows)

• 弓道 (궁도, gungdo) archery

• 弧 (활:호, hwal:ho) arc
• 弝 (줌통:파, jumtong:pa) handle
• 弦 (시위:현, siwi:hyeon) string
• 矢 (화살:시, ''hwasal:si) arrow

• 穹 (하늘:궁, haneul:gung) celestial sphere, dome

弓 (cung)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.