The Japanese Radical: 弓


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Meaning
bow    弓

Explanation Pictograph: bow without string.

Used in these characters:
JLPT 4Joyo 2
pull, draw
hiku, IN
A bow 弓 with its string 丨
The bow's string is pulled.  
JLPT 4Joyo 2
strong
tsuyoi, shiiru, KYŌ, GŌ
Left: bow 弓, right: nose ム and insect 虫 (body 口 and sting ム of an insect)
To target with the bow the nose of an insect: That is strong!  
JLPT 4Joyo 2
weak
yowai, JAKU
Twice a bow 弓 with ice 冫
Two iced bows are too weak.  
JLPT 4Joyo 2
younger brother
otōto, TEI, DAI, DE
From top: to come out 丷, bow 弓, and a feathered arrow λ
The feathered arrow comes from the bow of my younger brother.  
JLPT 3Joyo 3
grade, position, rank, order
DAI
Top: bamboo 竹, bottom: variation of younger brother 弟 (bow 弓 and feathered arrow λ)
With a bamboo (cane) I teach my younger brother his position (rank).  
JLPT 3Joyo 4
expense, spend, consume, cost
tsuiyasu, HI
Top: dollar 弗 (but here: flow heater with boiler coil 弓 and pipes || streaming through) (cf. to boil 沸), bottom: money 貝
A flow heater costs money and is thus: an expense.  
JLPT 2Joyo 5
stretch, spread
haru, CHŌ
Left: bow 弓, right: long 長 (mane and clothes 衣)
A bow is long and can be stretched.  
JLPT 3Joyo 2
bow, archery
yumi, KYŪ

Pictograph of bow without string  
JLPT 1Joyo 7
distress, deadlock, suffer, destitute
kiwamaru/meru, KYŪ
Top: hole, cavity 穴 (It is covered 宀 and a narrowing path 八 leads into the cave.), below: body 身 and bow 弓
In this hole is a body that is bent like a bow: Somebody is in distress!  
JLPT 1Joyo 7
string (of bow)
tsuru, GEN
Left: bow 弓, right: mysterious 玄 (part of magnet: 磁, where a upper bracket 艹 holds hanging 玄 stones 石 that behave mysteriously)
The bow has a mysterious string.  
JLPT 1Joyo 7
arc
KO
Left: bow 弓, right: melon 瓜 (image of a melon hanging in a frame)
Both a bow and melon have the shape of an arc.  
JLPT 1Joyo 7
play (an instrument), bullet, shot, spring, play
hiku, hazumu, tama, DAN
Left: bow 弓, right: single, merely 単 (It shines the sun 日 in the group of ten 十 [= with 9 planets] as the mere single.)
The bow is unique to play an instrument or to make a shot.  
JLPT 1Joyo 7
mourning, condolences, funeral
tomurau, CHŌ
Shows a bow 弓, but here understood as image of a snake 弓 winding around a person 丨
The person who was strangled by a snake is mourned.  
JLPT 2Joyo 7
boil, grow hot, gush
waku/kasu, FUTSU
Left: water 氵, right: dollar 弗 (but here: flow heater with boiler coil 弓 and pipes || streamed through)
The water in the flow heater is boiling.  
JLPT 2Joyo 7
bay, gulf
WAN
Left: water 氵, right: var. of red 赤 (When earth/clay 土 is burned in fire 灬, the pottery gets: red.), and bow 弓
The water is reddish in the bow-shaped bay.  
JLPT -Joyo 7
drown, indulge
oboreru, DEKI
Left: water 氵, right: weak 弱 (= Iced 冫bows 弓 are weak.)
If you are in the water and feel weak, you will: drown.  
JLPT -Joyo 7
increasingly, more and more
ya, MI
Left: bow 弓, right: 尔 (lying person and small 小, together: small person)
Bows are also used by small persons, and they become more and more.  

Radicals are shown here that are similar either in appearance or meaning.

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