弾 means “bullet, play (an instrument), bounce”

だん · dan

Also: twang, flip, snap

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ひく, はずむ, たま, はじく, はじける

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ダン, タン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

A bow (弓) and 単: 弾 once meant a bow that shot pellets instead of arrows. Anything sprung loose fits: a bullet (弾丸), a bomb (爆弾), a chat that 弾む, bounces along, and a guitar or piano you 弾く, play.

Used in 爆弾 (bakudan, bomb), 弾く (hiku, to play an instrument), and 弾む (hazumu, to bounce/liven up)

More from Arms & the Hunt

• 射 shoot
• 獲 catch
• 銃 gun
• 甲 armor
• 網 net
• 砲 cannon
• 矢 arrow
• 剣 sword
• 盾 shield
• 矛 spear
• 釣 fish (with a line)
• 狩 hunt

Learn 弾 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.