Bow Radical (弓) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
弓 is the bow radical. It appears in 8 of the most common Chinese characters — these 8 are the ones worth learning first, and the worksheet below gives every one of them a pinyin header, a stroke-by-stroke model and blank Tianzige grids to copy into.
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What does 弓 mean?
Bow radical · 弓 gōng · 3 strokes · a bow (for shooting)
It usually appears on the left, or at the bottom. The Origin column below shows what each character's parts do — many take their meaning from the radical, some take their sound from the other half.
Shapes: 弓
弓 itself: A bow aimed to the left
8 common characters with 弓
Ranked by how often they appear in real written Chinese. Every character links to its own page with a stroke-order animation and example words.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 强 | qiáng | strong, powerful, better | 虫 supplies the sound |
| 张 | zhāng | [measure word for flat objects and things with a flat surface, and also for bows and mouths] | 长 supplies the sound |
| 引 | yǐn | cause, make; guide, lead; quote, cite | To pull back a bow's 弓 drawstring 丨 |
| 弟 | dì | younger brother; junior male; I (modest word in letter) | |
| 弱 | ruò | weak | Two shoots 弓 dying to frost 冫 |
| 弹 | tán | bullet, bomb | 单 supplies the sound |
| 弯 | wān | to bend; bent; a bend; a turn (in a road etc); CL:道 | Like 亦 a bow 弓 |
| 弥 | mí | full; to fill; completely; more | 尔 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 山Mountain radical · shān14 common characters · mountain
- 工Work radical · gōng16 common characters · work, craft
- 干Dry radical · gān12 common characters · dry; a shield
- 彐Snout radical14 common characters · a snout; a pig's head
- 彡Stripe radical · shān8 common characters · hair, stripes, patterns
- 彳Step radical · chì17 common characters · small steps; to walk
Create Your Own Chinese Worksheet
The download above is fixed; the generator is not. Turn any character list, sentence or textbook section into a printable worksheet — grid style, paper size and header are yours to pick.