Meaning
a bow (weapon)
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “gong” becomes a different word in each tone. 弓 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 开弓kāi gōngto draw a bow; to pull back a bowstring
- 长弓cháng gōnglongbow
- 弓身gōng shēnto bend the body at the waist; to bow
- 弓形gōng xíngcircular segment
- 弓足gōng zúbound feet
Example Sentence
古代的猎人用弓箭打猎。Gǔ dài de liè rén yòng gōng jiàn dǎ liè.Ancient hunters hunted with bows and arrows.
古代Gǔ dàiancient times的deof猎人liè rénhunter用yòngto use弓箭gōng jiànbow and arrow打猎dǎ lièto go hunting。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A pictograph of a bow, drawn with the curved frame (the string is left off). It means ‘bow’ and is the radical in 张, 弹, 强.
A way to remember it
A curved frame ready to launch an arrow — a bow.
Easy to confuse with
- 引‘To pull / lead’: a bow (弓) with a vertical line beside it, like drawing the string.