砲 means “cannon, gun”

ほう · hou

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ホウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

Stones (石) wrapped (包) and hurled: 砲 once named a stone-throwing catapult, then the cannon. The muskets that landed on Tanegashima, traditionally in 1543, came to be called 鉄砲, iron cannons, and 発砲 is opening fire.

Used in 鉄砲 (teppou, gun/firearm), 大砲 (taihou, cannon), and 発砲 (happou, opening fire)

More from Arms & the Hunt

• 矢 arrow
• 剣 sword
• 盾 shield
• 矛 spear
• 釣 fish (with a line)
• 狩 hunt
• 弓 bow (archery)
• 猟 hunting (game)
• 捉 grasp
• 斬 slash
• 餌 bait
• 弾 bullet

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

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