弓弩
gōng​nǔ

bow and crossbow

弓 gōng bow

Pictograph of a bow for shooting arrows.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (12 of 21 verified)

强张弹弯弥弦彦弧弛弩彌弳彊弪弮彈彆彎張強彥

Iconic (5)

引射隽雋發

Sound (2 of 4 verified)

弘躬穹芎

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkjuwngkʷəŋ bow (n.)

說文解字

《說文》：“弓，以近窮遠。象形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

弩 nǔ cross-bow

Phonosemantic compound. 弓 represents the meaning and 奴 represents the sound.

Components

弓
弓 Meaning component
gōng bow
奴
奴 Sound component
nú slave

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartnuXC.nˤaʔcrossbow
Zhengzhangnaːʔ

說文解字

弓有臂者。《周禮》四弩：夾弩、庾弩、唐弩、大弩。从弓奴聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)