字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

bullet, twang, flip, snap

On’yomi ダン、タン
Kun’yomi ひ.く、-ひ.き、はず.む、たま、はじ.く、はじ.ける、ただ.す、はじ.きゆみ

Origin

This character combines a bow (弓) on the left, which represents the action of shooting or propelling something, with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The bow radical makes sense for the character's core meanings: you use a bow to shoot bullets, and the twanging or snapping motions involved in using a bow match the character's sense of flicking or plucking. The right component is purely there to hint at how to pronounce it—it contributes no additional meaning to the character itself.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

弾 12 strokes

Components

  • 弓 radical left
  • 単 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 糾弾 きゅうだん censure; denunciation
  • 実弾 じつだん real bullet; live ammunition
  • 銃弾 じゅうだん bullet (from a rifle)
  • 弾く はじく to flip; to snap
  • 弾み はずみ bounce; spring
  • 弾む はずむ to spring; to bound
  • 弾圧 だんあつ oppression; suppression
  • 弾劾 だんがい impeachment

Related kanji

Same sound component 単
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
57
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#853 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+05F3E