{"id":6852,"date":"2016-03-09T12:49:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T12:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=6852"},"modified":"2024-07-20T08:56:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T08:56:11","slug":"learning-chinese-characters-bow-radical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/learning-chinese-characters-bow-radical.html","title":{"rendered":"Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals &#8211; Exploring the Bow Radical in Chinese Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of my favorite Chinese radicals is the bow radical, \u5f13 (g\u014dng). 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=index-802.html alt=\"gong-order\" class=\"wp-image-6853\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u5f26 (xi\u00e1n) for bowstring and \u5f22 (t\u0101o) for bow case. Others are related to the process of shooting, like \u5f15 (y\u01d0n), which means to stretch, as when drawing a bow.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"mp3jWrap_0\" class=\"mjp-s-wrapper s-graphic unsel-mjp \" style=\"font-size:18px;\"><span id=\"playpause_wrap_mp3j_0\" class=\"wrap_inline_mp3j\" style=\"font-weight:700;\"><span class=\"gfxbutton_mp3j play-mjp\" id=\"playpause_mp3j_0\" style=\"font-size:18px;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<span class=\"group_wrap\"><span class=\"bars_mp3j\"><span class=\"loadB_mp3j\" id=\"load_mp3j_0\"><\/span><span class=\"posbarB_mp3j\" id=\"posbar_mp3j_0\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"indi_mp3j\" style=\"font-size:12.6px;\" id=\"statusMI_0\"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><span class=\"s-nosolution\" id=\"mp3j_nosolution_0\" style=\"display:none;\"><\/span><script>\nMP3jPLAYLISTS.inline_0 = [\n\t{ name: \"post 13\", formats: [\"mp3\"], mp3: \"aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlnbWFuZGFyaW4uY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDE2LzAzL3Bvc3QtMTMubXAz\", counterpart:\"\", artist: \"\", image: \"\", imgurl: \"\" }\n];\n<\/script>\n\n<script>MP3jPLAYERS[0] = { list: MP3jPLAYLISTS.inline_0, tr:0, type:'single', lstate:'', loop:false, play_txt:'&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;', pause_txt:'&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;', pp_title:'', autoplay:false, download:false, vol:100, height:'' };<\/script>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"688\" src=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/post-13.jpg\" alt=\"post 13\" class=\"wp-image-6855\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/post-13.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/post-13-300x258.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/post-13-768x660.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The commonly used character \u5f20 (zh\u0101ng) has the bow radical on its left side and a phonetic component, \u957f (ch\u00e1ng), which means long. It&#8217;s interesting to contrast the character \u5f1c (ji\u00e0ng), which contains two bows and means &#8220;stiff&#8221; or &#8220;strong,&#8221; with \u5f31 (ru\u00f2), which means &#8220;weak.&#8221; The pictograph \u5f31 (ru\u00f2) looks like a pair of baby bird wings, symbolizing fragility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note: Don\u2019t confuse these three characters containing \u5f13, which all have the same pronunciation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u5f1f (d\u00ec) was originally a string wrapped around a bobbin, meaning &#8220;sequence&#8221; or &#8220;second.&#8221; Nowadays, it mainly appears in \u5f1f\u5f1f (d\u00ecdi), meaning younger brother.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u7b2c (d\u00ec) also means &#8220;sequence&#8221; but has the bamboo radical \u7af9 at the top, reminiscent of old Chinese bamboo slat books.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/chinese-characters-with-the-walk-radical.html\">&#8220;walk&#8221; radical<\/a> is added to \u5f1f (d\u00ec), it becomes \u9012 (d\u00ec), meaning &#8220;to hand over&#8221; or &#8220;to deliver.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve reviewed commonly used Chinese characters with the bow radical, \u5f13. What is your favorite radical? Share your learning experience with us in the comments below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on Chinese characters and radicals, explore these helpful resources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/chinese-characters-list\">List of Chinese Characters \u2013 by Radicals<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/chinese-characters.html\">A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Characters<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my favorite Chinese radicals is the bow radical, \u5f13 (g\u014dng). 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&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,116],"tags":[77,86,78,80,84],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-6852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-characters","category-hacking-chinese-characters","tag-beginner","tag-chinese-characters","tag-intermediate","tag-self-study","tag-vocabulary","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Learning Chinese Characters with \u201cBow\u201d Radical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/learning-chinese-characters-bow-radical.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning Chinese Characters with \u201cBow\u201d Radical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of my favorite Chinese radicals is the bow radical, \u5f13 (g\u014dng). 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. 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