射
shè HSK5

shoot

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rejected by Hsmq · Mar 18, 2026, 09:09 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Mar 18, 2026, 07:58 PM

hand

Review: Technically that is the correct component identification of the graph but it's more easier to just pinpoint the component to 寸 since 寸 also depicts a hand when used as a component in other characters. If anything, you should probably put down that the glyph was originally 又 but was later reanalyzed as 寸. Same goes for 寺.

Changed fields: components

Depicts a hand (又) pulling back a bowstring (弓) with an arrow (矢) to shoot. Later written as 身 and 寸.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component

Depicts a bow and arrow. Originally composed of 弓 (bow) and 矢 (arrow). Later was written as unrelated 身 (body).

又
又 Iconic component

Depicts a hand.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 又 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

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 Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 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
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 Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartzyaeHCə.lAk-s shoot; archer
zyekCə.lAk hit with bow and arrow

說文解字

《說文》：“，弓弩發於身而中於遠也。从矢，从身。射，篆文从寸。寸，法度也，亦手也。”

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)