Taxonomy of meanings for 弓:
- 弓 gōng (OC: kʷɯŋ MC: kiuŋ) 居戎切 平 廣韻：【弓矢釋名曰弓穹也張之穹穹然也其末曰簫又謂之弭以骨爲之滑弭弭也中央曰弣弣撫也人所撫持也簫弣之間曰淵淵宛也言曲宛然也丗本曰黄帝臣揮作弓墨子曰羿作弓孫子曰傜作弓又姓魯大夫叔弓之後 】
Additional information about 弓
說文解字: 【弓】，以近窮遠。 〔小徐本「遠」下有「也」。〕 象形。古者揮作弓。《周禮》：六弓：王弓、弧弓，以射甲革甚質；夾弓、庾弓，以射干矦鳥獸；唐弓、大弓，以授學射者。 〔小徐本諸「射」皆作「䠶」。〕 凡弓之屬皆从弓。 【居戎切】
- Criteria
- BOW
[CONGERIES]
1. The current general word for the bow is gōng 弓, and it must be remembered that in early times the bow was used not only to shoot arrows but also mud pellets and the like.
2. Nǔ 弩 refers specifically to the crossbow which became current in Warring States times.
3. Hú 弧 refers specifically to an ancient "primitive" bow.
4. Dǐ 弤 refers to a beautifully crafted lacquered bow, and it is the rare name of the legendary emperor Shùn's 舜 mythical bow.
NB: The following are late words relevant to this group:
5. Chāo 弨 refers to an unstrung bow.
6.Shāo 弰 refers to the end of a bow.
- Word relations
- Conv: (BOW)矢/ARROW
The current ancient general word for any kind of arrow is shǐ 矢, and specifically the word refers in from Han times onwards to wooden-shaft rather than bamboo shaft arrows. [GENERAL]; [[CURRENT]] - Object: (BOW)操/WIELD
- Assoc: (BOW)弩/BOW
Nǔ 弩 refers specifically to the crossbow which became current in Warring States times. - Assoc: (BOW)劍/SWORD
Jiàn 劍refers to the weapon with two edges which can be worn on a belt. Sword became common in China relatively late; although short bronze swords were widely used in northeastern China from Shang till early Chunqiu period, there are only few pieces known from the graves of the Western Zhou and Chunqiu aristocracy. In the middle and late Chunqiu period bronze swords came to be wider used particularly in the southern states of Wu, Yue, and Chu; the earliest textual evidence I have found for the word also dates from this period (MOZI and inscriptions on the swords of Wu and Yue). In Warring States times sword became usual weapon. Iron swords for the first time appeared in the late Chunqiu period and by the early Han completely replaced bronze pieces. Note that in Han times both aristocrats and officials worn swords like symbols of their status.