arrow

See also: Arrow

Englisch

An arrow symbol.

Two arrows (projectiles) in a target.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹəʊ/
• (General American)
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹoʊ/

  • Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger):

    (file)

  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ(ə)ɹoʊ/

  • Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

    (file)

• (Estuary English, Southern US) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹə/
• Rhymes: -æɹəʊ
• Hyphenation: ar‧row

Etymology 1

From Middle English arwe, from Old English earh (oblique form ēarw-), from Proto-West Germanic *arhu, from Proto-Germanic *arhwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érkʷo- (“bow, arrow”). Cognate with Faroese ørv (“arrow”), Icelandic ör (“arrow”), örvar (“arrows”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 (arƕazna, “dart”), Latin arcus (“bow”).

Nomen

arrow (plural arrows)

2. (archery) A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “[The Historie of Irelande […].] The Thirde Booke of the Historie of Ireland, Comprising the Raigne of Henry the Eyght: [...].”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, pages 77–78, column 2:

     The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of y^e Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^{[sic – meaning random]} uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

4. A sign oder symbol used to indicate a direction (e.g. →).
   • 1968, Robert R. Stoll, Edward T. Wong, Linear Algebra, London: Academic Press, →LCCN, pages 2–3:

     Consider now the arrow with initial point $A$ and terminal point $B$; this arrow we shall designate by ${\overrightarrow {AB}}$. If $a_{1},a_{2},a_{3},$ and $b_{1},b_{2},b_{3}$ are the coordinates of $A$ and $B$, respectively, then ${\overrightarrow {AB}}$ is equal to the arrow ${\overrightarrow {OP}}$, where $O$ is the origin of the coordinate system and $P$ has coordinates $b_{1}-a_{1},b_{2}-a_{2},b_{3}-a_{3}$. Thus each arrow is equal to one having the origin as its initial point.

5. (graph theory) A directed edge.
6. (colloquial, darts) A dart.
   • 2014, John Eaton, It's Gonna Rain All Night, page 182:

     The second arrow flew through the air in a drunken parabolic curve and nestled just below the previous dart. Twenty!
     “Good arrows!” came from all around the room. Total silence came from the opposition corner.

7. (computing) The -> symbol, which has specific meanings in various programming languages.
8. (botany) The inflorescence oder tassel of a mature sugar cane plant.
   • 1921, The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer‎^[1], volume 67, page 187:

     When the bulb of the “blowing ball” is operated, a gentle spray, much like what happens in Nature when a sugar cane arrow is shaken by the wind or gently tapped, is given out at the free end of the capsule and can be directed to any portion of the arrow as desired.

Synonyms

• (projectile): streal
• (in graph theory): arc, directed edge

Translations

projectile

• Abaza: сагӏындакъ (saʻəndaqʼ)
• Abkhaz: ахәымпал (axʷəmpʼal)
• Acehnese: aneuk panah
• Adyghe: щэбзащ (śɛbzaś)
• Afrikaans: pyl, skig
• Akan: agyan
• Albanian: shigjetë (sq) f, ber (sq) m
• Amanab: fak
• Amharic: ፍላጣ (fəlaṭa), ቀስት (ḳäst), ፍላጻ (fəlaṣa)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: k’aa’ist'aaní

• Arabic: سَهْم (ar) m (sahm)

  Egyptian Arabic: سهم m (sahm)

  Hijazi Arabic: سَهَم m (saham)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܓܐܪܐ (giʾrā)

• Armenian: նետ (hy) (net)
• Aromanian: sãdzeatã
• Assamese: কাঁড় (kãr)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: flecha f
• Avar: йойохул гӏучӏ (jojoxul ʻučʼ), чӏор (čʼor)
• Avestan: 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri)
• Aymara: mich'i
• Azerbaijani: ox (az)

  Cyrillic: ох

  Perso-Arabic: اوخ (ox)

• Bashkir: уҡ (uq)
• Basque: gezi (eu)
• Belarusian: страла́ f (stralá)
• Bengali: তীর (bn) (tir)
• Bislama: ara
• Borôro: tugo
• Bulgarian: стрела́ (bg) f (strelá)
• Burmese: မြား (my) (mra:)
• Catalan: fletxa (ca) f, sageta (ca) f
• Chamicuro: ashkololi
• Chamorro: please add this translation if you can
• Chechen: пха (pxa)
• Cherokee: ᎫᏂ (guni)
• Cheyenne: maahe
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 箭 (zin³), 矢 (ci²)

  Dungan: җян (ži͡an)

  Hokkien: 箭 (chìⁿ), 矢 (sí)

  Mandarin: 箭 (zh) (jiàn), 矢 (zh) (shǐ), 箭頭／箭头 (zh) (jiàntóu)

  Wu: 箭 (⁵ci), 矢 (⁵sy)

• Chipewyan: k’á
• Choctaw: oo-ske-noc-kay
• Chuvash: ҫӗмрен (śĕmren)
• Classical Nahuatl: mitl
• Cornish: seth
• Crimean Tatar: oq
• Czech: šíp (cs) m, střela (cs) f (dated, now means "projectile")
• Danish: pil c
• Dargwa: урги (urgi)
• Dhivehi: ތީރު (tīru)
• Dongxiang: sumu
• Dutch: pijl (nl) m
• Egyptian: (šsr m), (zwn m)
• Elfdalian: kuov m
• Erzya: нал (nal), нал (nal)
• Esperanto: sago (eo)
• Estonian: nool (et)
• Evenki: нюр (ņur)
• Ewe: aŋutrɔ n
• Farefare: pɛɛfɔ
• Faroese: ørvur m, pílur m, ørv f
• Finnish: nuoli (fi)
• French: flèche (fr) f
• Friulian: frece f
• Galician: frecha f, frisga f, seta (gl) f
• Georgian: ისარი (ka) (isari)
• German: Pfeil (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 f (arƕazna)
• Greek: βέλος (el) n (vélos), σαΐτα (el) f (saḯta)

  Ancient: ἰός m (iós), τόξευμα n (tóxeuma), (Epic) ὀϊστός m (oïstós)

• Greenlandic: qarsoq
• Gujarati: બાણ (bāṇ)
• Hadza: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: kibiya
• Hawaiian: pua, pua pana
• Hebrew: חֵץ (he) m (khets)
• Hindi: तीर (hi) m (tīr), बाण (hi) (bāṇ)
• Hungarian: nyíl (hu)
• Hunsrik: Peil m
• Icelandic: ör (is) f
• Ido: flecho (io)
• Igbo: arọ
• Indonesian: panah (id), anak panah (id)
• Ingrian: strela, nooli
• Ingush: тӏаьск (tʼäsk)
• Interlingua: flecha, sagitta
• Irish: saighead f
• Isthmus Zapotec: baxa, baza
• Italian: freccia (it) f
• Japanese: 矢 (ja) (や, ya)
• Jarai: ƀrom
• Javanese: ꦥꦤꦃ (jv) (panah)
• Kabardian: шабзэ (kbd) (šabzɛ)
• Kannada: ಅಂಬು (kn) (ambu), ಬಾಣ (kn) (bāṇa)
• Karachay-Balkar: окъ (oq)
• Karelian: piili
• Kazakh: жебе (jebe), оқ (oq)
• Ket: ӄам
• Khmer: ព្រួញ (km) (pruəñ), សរ (km) (sɑɑ)
• Kikuyu: mũguĩ class 3
• Komi-Permyak: ньӧв (ńöv)
• Korean: 화살 (ko) (hwasal)
• Kumyk: окъ (oq)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تیر (ckb) (tîr)

  Northern Kurdish: tîr (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: жебе (ky) (jebe)
• Lak: чӏатӏаракӏ (čʼatʼarakʼ)
• Lakota: waŋhíŋkpe
• Lao: ລູກສອນ (lūk sǭn), ສອນ (sǭn)
• Latgalian: šautra f
• Latin: sagitta (la) f
• Latvian: bulta f, šautra f, strēle f
• Lingala: likulá
• Lithuanian: strėlė f
• Lokono: simala
• Low German: Piel m, Piil m
• Lü: ᦔᦹᧃ (ṗuen), ᦐᦱᧉᦺᦙᧉ (ṅaa²may²)
• Luxembourgish: Fäil m
• Macedonian: стрела f (strela)
• Malay: panah (ms)

  Jawi: ڤانه

• Malayalam: അമ്പ് (ml) (ampŭ)
• Maltese: vleġġa f
• Manchu: ᠰᡳᡵᡩᠠᠨ (sirdan), ᠨᡳᡵᡠ (niru)
• Maori: kōpere, pere
• Marathi: बाण (bāṇ)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: пикш (pikš), нӧлӧ (nölö)

• Marwari: तीर (tīr)
• Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭢𐭫 (tgl /⁠tigr⁠/)
• Mohawk: kayonkwere
• Moksha: нал (nal)
• Mon: လဴ (mnw)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сум (mn) (sum)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠤᠮᠤ (sumu)

• Nahuatl: mitl (nah)
• Nanticoke: allontz
• Navajo: kʼaaʼ
• Northern Mansi: ^{(please verify)} ня̄л (nâ̄l)
• Northern Sami: njuolla
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: pil (no)

  Bokmål: pil (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: pil f

• Nottoway-Meherrin: aruntquaserank
• Occitan: flècha (oc) f, sageta (oc) f
• Odia: ବାଣ (or) (bāṇa), ତୀର (or) (tira)
• Ojibwe: mitigwanwi, bikwak, ginwaakwanwi, gii'anwaakonwi, asawaan
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: стрѣла f (strěla)

  Glagolitic: ⱄⱅⱃⱑⰾⰰ f (strěla)

• Old East Slavic: стрѣла f (strěla)
• Old English: flān m
• Old Galician-Portuguese: saeta
• Old Javanese: panah
• Old Norse: ǫr f
• Oneida: kayú:kwile̲’
• Ossetian: фат (fat)
• Ottoman Turkish: اوق (ok), تیر (tir), سهم (sehm)
• Pali: usu, sara m, bāṇa m
• Pashto: غشۍ (ǧašëy)
• Pawnee: riiksuʼ, riksuʼ
• Persian: تیر (fa) (tir)
• Pirahã: kahaí
• Plautdietsch: Feil f
• Polish: strzała (pl) f, szyp m (archaic)
• Portuguese: flecha (pt) f, seta (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਤੀਰ (tīr)
• Quechua: wach'i
• Rohingya: tir
• Romanian: săgeată (ro) f

  Cyrillic: сэӂатэ f (săgeată)

• Romansch: frizza f
• Russian: стрела́ (ru) f (strelá)
• Sami:

  Kildin Sami: ню̄лл (njūll)

• Samoan: please add this translation if you can
• Sanskrit: इषु (sa) m (iṣu), बाण (sa) (bāṇa), शर (sa) m (śara)
• Saterland Frisian: Stroal m
• Scottish Gaelic: saighead f, gath f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стрела f, стријела f, стрелица f, стрјелица f, стрила f (Chakavian, Ikavian)

  Roman: strela f, strijela (sh) f, strelica (sh) f, strjelica f, strila f (Chakavian, Ikavian)

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Shawnee: la nàhl we
• Sherpa: མདའ (mda')
• Sicilian: freccia f
• Sindhi: پيِلو (sd) (pīlō)
• Sinhalese: ඊය (īya)
• Slovak: šíp, strela f (dated, now means "projectile")
• Slovene: puščica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: klek m, šypa f

  Upper Sorbian: kłok m, šip m

• Sotho: motsu
• Southern Altai: јебе (ǰebe), ок (ok)
• Spanish: flecha (es) f, saeta (es) f
• Sudovian: strēla f
• Sumerian: 𒋾 (TI)
• Sundanese: jamparing
• Svan: ცხვი (cxvi)
• Swahili: mshale (sw)
• Swedish: pil (sv) c
• Tabasaran: чӏимир (č̣imir)
• Tagalog: tunod (tl), palaso, pletsa
• Tajik: тир (tg) (tir)
• Tamil: அம்பு (ta) (ampu)
• Taos: łúonemą
• Tat: ух
• Tatar: ук (tt) (uq)
• Telugu: బాణము (te) (bāṇamu), అమ్ము (te) (ammu)
• Tetum: hana
• Thai: ลูกศร (lûuk-sɔ̌ɔn), ศร (sɔ̌ɔn)
• Tibetan: མདའ (mda')
• Tigrinya: መንትግ (mäntəg), ኵናት (kʷənat), ፍላጻ (fəlaṣa)
• Tlingit: chooneit
• Tocharian B: prere, tsain
• Turkish: ok (tr)
• Turkmen: ok, peýkam
• Tutelo: mañkoi, mañksii
• Tuvan: согун (sogun)
• Udmurt: ньӧл (ńöl)
• Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎑 (ḥẓ)
• Ukrainian: стріла́ f (strilá)
• Urdu: تیر m (tīr)
• Uyghur: ئوق (oq)
• Uzbek: oʻq (uz), tir (uz) (dated)
• Vietnamese: mũi tên (vi), tên (vi)
• Volapük: sagit (vo)
• Walloon: fritche (wa) f, fletche (wa) f
• Welsh: saeth (cy) f
• West Frisian: pylk n
• Wolof: fitt (wo), fett
• Xhosa: utolo
• Yakut: ох (oq), оноҕос (onoğos)
• Yiddish: פֿײַל f (fayl)
• Yoruba: o̩fà
• Yup'ik: qeruq
• Zhuang: naq, cienq (dialectal), bwn (dialectal)
• Zulu: umcibisholo class 3/4
• ǃXóõ: gǁqhàã (bone-tipped)

symbol

• Afrikaans: pyltjie
• Arabic: سَهْم (ar) m (sahm)

  Hijazi Arabic: سَهَم m (saham)

• Armenian: սլաք (hy) (slakʻ)
• Asturian: flecha f
• Belarusian: стрэ́лка f (strélka)
• Bulgarian: стрелка́ (bg) f (strelká)
• Catalan: fletxa (ca) f
• Chechen: цамза (camza)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 箭嘴 (zin³ zeoi²)

  Mandarin: 箭號／箭号 (jiànhào), 箭頭／箭头 (zh) (jiàntóu)

• Czech: šipka (cs) f
• Danish: pil c
• Dutch: pijl (nl) m
• Estonian: nool (et)
• Fijian: gasau
• Finnish: nuoli (fi)
• French: flèche (fr) f
• Galician: frecha f
• Georgian: ისარი (ka) (isari)
• German: Pfeil (de) m
• Greek: βέλος (el) n (vélos), βελάκι (el) n (veláki) (diminutive), δείκτης (el) m (deíktis)
• Hawaiian: nahau
• Hebrew: חץ (he) m (khetz)
• Hungarian: nyíl (hu)
• Ido: flecho (io)
• Indonesian: panah (id)
• Ingush: гӏоаролг (ğoarolg)
• Italian: freccia (it)
• Japanese: 矢印 (ja) (やじるし, yajirushi)
• Kimaragang: ramok do panah
• Korean: 화살표 (hwasalpyo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tîr (ku) m

• Lao: ລູກສອນ (lūk sǭn)
• Latvian: bulta
• Lithuanian: rodyklė
• Luxembourgish: Fäil m
• Macedonian: стре́лка f (strélka)
• Malay:

  Jawi: انق ڤانه

  Rumi: anak panah

• Malayalam: ചിഹ്നം (ml) (cihnaṁ)
• Norman: flièche f
• Persian: فلش (fa) (fleš), پیکانه (fa) (peykâne)
• Polish: strzałka (pl) f
• Portuguese: seta (pt) f
• Romanian: săgeată (ro) f
• Russian: стре́лка (ru) f (strélka)
• Serbo-Croatian: strelica (sh) f, стрелица f
• Slovak: šípka f
• Slovene: puščica (sl) f
• Spanish: flecha (es) f
• Swedish: pil (sv) c
• Telugu: బాణం గుర్తు (bāṇaṁ gurtu)
• Thai: ลูกศร (lûuk-sɔ̌ɔn)
• Turkish: ok (tr)
• Ukrainian: стрі́лка f (strílka)
• Vietnamese: mũi tên (vi)
• Walloon: fritche (wa) f, fletche (wa) f
• West Frisian: pylk c

in graph theory — see directed edge

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: ^{(please verify)} saezh (br) f (1, 2)
• Guaraní: ^{(please verify)} hu'y (1)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} flecha, ^{(please verify)} sagitta (1, 2)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} strėlė f (1, 2), ^{(please verify)} rodyklė f (2)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} săgeată (ro) f
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} šíp m (1), ^{(please verify)} šípka f (2)
• Tupinambá: ^{(please verify)} u'uba (1)

Derived terms

• arrow arum
• arrowback
• arrow bag
• arrow bamboo
• arrow crab
• arrow-finger
• arrowgrass
• arrowhead
• arrow-head
• arrowheaded
• arrow-hole
• arrow in the quiver
• arrowleaf
• arrowless
• arrowlet
• arrowlike
• arrowmaker
• arrow of time / time's arrow
• arrow paradox
• arrowpoint
• arrow-poison frog
• arrow prayer
• arrowproof
• arrowroot
• arrow-root
• arrowslit
• arrow slit
• arrowsmith
• arrow-straight
• arrow switch
• Arrowverse
• arrow-wood
• arrowwood
• arrowword
• arrow worm
• arrowworm
• arrowy
• bow and arrow
• broad arrow
• broken arrow
• cool arrow
• Dutch arrow
• elf arrow
• fat arrow
• fire arrow
• hit two targets with one arrow
• life-arrow
• Peirce arrow
• poison arrow
• poison arrow frog
• possession arrow
• red arrow
• sea arrow
• sharrow
• slings and arrows
• straight arrow
• straight-arrow
• straight as an arrow
• Swiss arrow
• whistling arrow
• yellowline arrow crab

 

See also

Arrows in Unicode (hexadecimal range 0x2190–0x21ff)

• ←
• ↑
• →
• ↓
• ↔
• ↕
• ↖
• ↗
• ↘
• ↙
• ↚
• ↛
• ↜
• ↝
• ↞
• ↟
• ↠
• ↡
• ↢
• ↣
• ↤
• ↥
• ↦
• ↧
• ↨
• ↩
• ↪
• ↫
• ↬
• ↭
• ↮
• ↯
• ↰
• ↱
• ↲
• ↳
• ↴
• ↵
• ↶
• ↷
• ↸
• ↹
• ↺
• ↻
• ↼
• ↽
• ↾
• ↿
• ⇀
• ⇁
• ⇂
• ⇃
• ⇄
• ⇅
• ⇆
• ⇇
• ⇈
• ⇉
• ⇊
• ⇋
• ⇌
• ⇍
• ⇎
• ⇏
• ⇐
• ⇑
• ⇒
• ⇓
• ⇔
• ⇕
• ⇖
• ⇗
• ⇘
• ⇙
• ⇚
• ⇛
• ⇜
• ⇝
• ⇟
• ⇞
• ⇠
• ⇡
• ⇢
• ⇣
• ⇤
• ⇥
• ⇦
• ⇧
• ⇨
• ⇩
• ⇪
• ⇫
• ⇬
• ⇭
• ⇮
• ⇯
• ⇰
• ⇱
• ⇲
• ⇳
• ⇴
• ⇵
• ⇶
• ⇷
• ⇸
• ⇹
• ⇺
• ⇻
• ⇼
• ⇽
• ⇾
• ⇿

Verb

arrow (third-person singular simple present arrows, present participle arrowing, simple past and past participle arrowed)

1. (intransitive) To move swiftly and directly (like an arrow).
   • 2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 279:

     Above his head, a startled bird arrows up, into the sun.

2. (transitive) To let fly swiftly and directly.
   • 2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

     Jermain Defoe dinked in an equaliser and Gareth Bale hit the crossbar for the hosts before Elliott Bennett arrowed in Norwich's winner.

3. (intransitive, botany, of a sugar cane plant) To develop an inflorescence.
   • 1848, Louis Antoine A.G. De Verteuil, Three essays on the cultivation of the sugar-cane in Trinidad‎^[3], page 12:

     The more vigorous and luxuriant the vegetation of a field of canes, the less will the tendency to flowering be shewn; whereas nearly all the canes will be found to arrow if the soil be poor and the vegetation meagre.

   • 1903, Planter and Sugar Manufacturer‎^[4], volume 30, page 374:

     In some sugar cane countries efforts are made to harvest the cane crops before the period of arrowing, and in Barbados it is thought that a considerable loss occurs in the yield of sugar if the harvest be delayed and only completed through the arrowing season.

   • 1905, Sugar-Cane Experiments in the Leeward Islands‎^[5]:

     It is easily grown and arrows freely. It appears to be of moderate merit only, but might be cautiously tried on a small scale.

4. (computing, intransitive) To navigate using the arrow keys.

   Arrow left until you reach the start of the text you want to delete.

Etymology 2

Representing pronunciation.

Contraction

arrow

1. (obsolete) Contraction of ever a (sometimes used with a redundant a oder an).
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 153:

     though he hath lived here this many years, I don't believe there is arrow a servant in the house ever saw the colour of his money.

Anagrams

• worra