yǐn

to pull

Pictograph of a bowstring being pulled back.

Components
弓 iconic component

  Iconic component

gōng

  

bow

丨 iconic component

  Iconic component

gǔnshù

  

vertical line

Depicts a bowstring being pulled back.

Evolution

引 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

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

Bronze script

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

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
引 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
引 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

yǐn

to pull, draw out, attract; to stretch; to draw (e.g. a bow); to pull; to stretch sth; to extend; to lengthen; to involve or implicate in; to attract; to lead; to guide; to leave; to provide evidence or justification for; old unit of distance equal to 10 [zhàng], one-thirtieth of a km or 33.33 meters

Most common words with 引
Freq.
Word
Meaning

引起

to lead to

吸引

to attract (interest, investment etc)

to pull

引发

to lead to

引导

to guide

Component uses

Meaning component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Sound component in 2 characters (0 verified)

Iconic component in 1 character (1 verified)

Remnant component in 1 character (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*li[n]ʔ

yinX

yǐn

draw the bow

*li[n]ʔ-s

yinH

yǐn

draw the bow


Statistics

HSK level 4

Appears in 62.5981% of movies

669th most common character in movies

479th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

4

Unicode

U+5F15

Shuowen

“引,開弓也。从弓、丨。”


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