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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

引

yǐn
to pull; to draw (a bow)
  • Ideogrammatic compound 會意
  • HSK 4
  • TOCFL 7
  • radical 弓
  • 4 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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Origin

Ideogrammic compound (會意 /会意): 弓 (“bow”) + 丿 (“indicatory stroke”)

Oracle-bone and bronze forms depict a (often slack) bow with a short slant stroke added as an indicatory mark; it most likely marks the place/line of drawing the bow (i.e. pulling the string), hence the basic meaning “to pull; to draw (a bow)”. A newer view takes the stroke as pointing to the bow’s curved section (弓淵) and derives “to draw” secondarily, but this remains less certain (Sun 2025).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • ideaChinese弓 “bow (weapon) (Classifier: 張／张)”
  • ideaChinese丿 “left-falling stroke, usually read as 撇”

Related: Zhangzhou Hokkien 咉, Hokkien 俺

Words built on it: 引起, 吸引, 秀

Meanings

character
  1. to pull; to draw (a bow)
  2. to stretch; to extend
  3. to lead; to guide
  4. to induce; to attract
  5. to recommend; to promote
  6. to reference; to quote

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

引：開弓也。从弓、丨。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 伸長、拉長。 例：引吭高歌
  2. 牽、帶領。 例：指引、牽引、呼朋引伴
  3. 招致、招惹。 例：吸引、勾引、拋磚引玉
  4. 援用。 例：援引、旁徵博引
  5. 用於導讀文章的文體。相當於「序」，而較序短。 例：引文
  6. 樂府詩體。 例：思歸引、箜篌引

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 引 was written 字形演變

  1. 引 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 引 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 引 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 引 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 引 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 引 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 引