Taxonomy of meanings for 箭:　　

  • 箭 jiàn (OC: tsens MC: tsiɛn) 子賤切 去 廣韻：【箭竹髙一丈節間三尺可爲矢爾雅曰東南之美者有㑹稽之竹箭子賤切九 】
    • ARROW
      • ncolloquial word: bamboo shaft of an arrow; arrow with bamboo shaft; arrow as a weapon of war; arrow as a token in bó 博 "backgammon"
      • nadVanalogy(fly etc)like an arrow SANGUOZHI: 箭飛
    • BAMBOO
      • nmtype of bamboo (used for making arrows)

    Additional information about 箭

    說文解字:

      Criteria
    • ARROW

      [[CURRENT/RARE]]

      [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

      [LARGE-SCALE/SMALL-SCALE]

      1. 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]]

      2. Jiàn 箭 came to mean bamboo shaft arrow from Qin times onwards, and the word originally refers specifically to the bamboo shaft of an arrow, from Warring States onwards. Even in Tang times, the word often retains its primary reference to the shaft rather than the arrow as a whole. From Eastern Han and especially Three Kingdom times onwards, the word comes to be used as a colloquial equivalent of shǐ 矢. Note that since all arrows appear to have been made of bamboo, the word jiàn 箭 does not mark out bamboo arrows from others. [Warring States and Han arrows ill.: LIU 1999: 72]

      [SPECIALISED]

      3. Yì 弋 refers to an arrow with string attached.

      [SPECIALISED]

      4. Zhuó 繳 refers primarily to the strings attached to yì 弋 "stringed arrows", but can occasionally refer to the arrow with the string.

      [SPECIALISED]

      5. Zēng 矰 refers to a particularly short stringed arrow.

      [SMALL-SCALE]

      6. Hóu 鍭 refers to a metal arrow shot from a crossbow, and used particularly in defensive warfare and ritualised official hunts. [ill: CHU 2000: 139 ?].

      [SPECIALLISED]

      7. Gǎn 笴 refers to the shaft of an arrow.

      [SPECIALISED]; [[RARE]]

    • BAMBOO

      [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

      1. The standard general current word for bamboo is zhú 竹, and the word usually refers to bamboo that is alive and growing.

      [GENERAL]

      2. Gān 竿 refers to bamboo that has been cut off, and the word typically refers to a bamboo stick, not to young shoots.

      [SPECIFIC]

      3. Miè 篾 is a rare word which refers to thin bamboo skin that has been removed to be used to make baskets, hats etc.

      [SPECIFIC]

      4. Yún 筠 refers to the rind of bamboo which may be still on the bamboo or already removed and prepared for use in the making of baskets or hats. In post-Buddhist times this word can come to refer generally to bamboo.

      [SPECIFIC]

      5. Gān 簳 is a very rare word which refers to slender young bamboo, typically the kind used to make bamboo arrows.

      [SPECIFIC]

      6. Jiǎn 簡 refers to polished bamboo slips used in writing. See WRITING MATERIAL

      [SPECIFIC]

      7. Jiàn 箭 refers to a kind of bamboo which provides suitable matrial for arrow-making.

      [SPECIFIC]