Kangxi Radical Shoot

It is radical 56, the dictionary form linked to 弋. In Chinese-character dictionaries, a radical is a component used to group entries for lookup; ⼷ labels the Kangxi index entry, while 弋 is the ordinary Han character.

Unicode keeps ⼷ and 弋 distinct because a radical label and an ordinary character have different roles. The English label “shoot” reflects older uses of 弋.

How did ⼷ become a dictionary index?

It came from a tradition of classifying characters by radicals. The earliest surviving forms of 弋 appear in Shang-period oracle-bone inscriptions—texts carved on animal bones and turtle shells—and resemble a wooden peg. Bronze inscriptions simplify the graph, and the later small-seal script, a standardized ancient writing style, changes it further.

The early Chinese dictionary 《說文解字》 (“Explaining Characters and Analyzing Forms”) describes 弋 as a peg used to hang things. Later study of ancient writing notes that this dictionary combined 弋 with a different sign that had its own pictographic origin.

Historical uses shifted with context: oracle-bone texts use 弋 for 代 (“replace”); some bronze inscriptions use it as a particle like 式 or for 特 (“single”); later classics use it for hunting birds with corded arrows. The Kangxi Dictionary, completed in 1716, groups entries by radical and remaining strokes. 杙 adds 木, the wood component, to 弋 to make the peg meaning explicit.