Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals – Exploring the Bow Radical in Chinese Characters

One of my favorite Chinese radicals is the bow radical, 弓 (gōng). It is an elegant character that must be written correctly. Despite looking complex, it consists of only three strokes. Here is how they are drawn:

The radical resembles a bow, which is what it means. There are over 160 characters listed under this radical in the Kangxi Dictionary. Some characters are directly related to bows, such as 弦 (xián) for bowstring and 弢 (tāo) for bow case. Others are related to the process of shooting, like 引 (yǐn), which means to stretch, as when drawing a bow.

The commonly used character 张 (zhāng) has the bow radical on its left side and a phonetic component, 长 (cháng), which means long. It’s interesting to contrast the character 弜 (jiàng), which contains two bows and means “stiff” or “strong,” with 弱 (ruò), which means “weak.” The pictograph 弱 (ruò) looks like a pair of baby bird wings, symbolizing fragility.

Note: Don’t confuse these three characters containing 弓, which all have the same pronunciation:

• 弟 (dì) was originally a string wrapped around a bobbin, meaning “sequence” or “second.” Nowadays, it mainly appears in 弟弟 (dìdi), meaning younger brother.
• 第 (dì) also means “sequence” but has the bamboo radical 竹 at the top, reminiscent of old Chinese bamboo slat books.
• When the “walk” radical is added to 弟 (dì), it becomes 递 (dì), meaning “to hand over” or “to deliver.”

We’ve reviewed commonly used Chinese characters with the bow radical, 弓. What is your favorite radical? Share your learning experience with us in the comments below!

For more information on Chinese characters and radicals, explore these helpful resources:

• List of Chinese Characters – by Radicals
• A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Characters