Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Tools & Weapons

引: pull, tug

Also: jerk, admit, install, quote, refer to

JLPT N34 strokesGrade 2Your ink: 白 Not met

弓 carries the meaning · 丨 is drawn in

4 strokes
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Bronze and small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

インin · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 引力いんりょくgravity
  • 強引なごういんなpushy
  • 引用するいんようするquote
  • 引退するいんたいするretire

ひくhiku · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 引くひくpull
  • 引き出しひきだしdrawer
  • 引っ越しひっこしmoving (e.g. residence)

Also read ひける, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Ideogrammic compound (會意)弓 bow + 丿 indicatory stroke

Source: Wiktionary, 引 (rev. 94589638), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Bow radical + a single line = the act of drawing back the string of a bow before releasing the arrow.”
From the 弓 bow story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
弓

Also built on bow (弓)

All 9
丨

Also built on vertical stroke (丨)

All 17

Also read イン

15 kanji share this on'yomiAll 15

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
引 pull
vs弔 condolences
Same parts, arranged differently.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yǐn

Same form: 引 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
引 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
引 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin yǐn most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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