Sinograph Addenda · Signs

arrow

Name	arrow
Reads	shǐ
Means	arrow
Taught in	06 · Knowing and walking

Where it comes from

An arrow, drawn whole: head at the top, shaft, fletching at the base. Rare on its own in the classics, but pinned early because 知 is built on it — components before compounds. Taught in the knowing-and-walking chapter.

How to remember it

Five strokes, one arrow — nocked and ready. Its real work is inside other characters: listen for shǐ, look for the point.

In the wild

不知為不知。bù zhī wéi bù zhī"when you do not know — admit you do not know" — honesty about ignorance as the start of knowledge; the arrow doing its work inside 知, four times over

Analects 2.17. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:002:18a · license: attribution.