Chinese Character Wiki
射

shè

shoot

Depicts a hand pulling back a bowstring with an arrow to shoot.

Components
◎ iconic component

◎  Iconic component

  

characterless component

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

寸 iconic component

寸  Iconic component

cùn

  

(hand), inch

Depicts a hand.

Evolution

射 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
射 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
射 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
射 Clerical script Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)

Clerical script

Cao Wei (Three Kingdoms: 222-280 AD)
射 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

射  

shè

shoot, eject, issue forth, emit; to shoot; to launch; to allude to; radio- (chemistry)

射 (䠶) 

shè

old variant of 射[shè]

Most common words with 射
Freq.
Word
Meaning

射

to shoot

发射

to launch

注射

injection

射手

archer

射击

to shoot

Component uses

Sound component in 4 characters (2 verified)

谢 謝 麝 榭

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*Cə.lAk-s

zyaeH

shè

shoot; archer

*Cə.lAk

zyek

shè

hit with bow and arrow


Statistics

HSK level 5

Appears in 41.1981% of movies

758th most common character in movies

703rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

10

Unicode

U+5C04

Shuowen

“，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。”


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