Chinese symbol for “catapult”
弹射
tán shè
Traditional: 彈射
to catapult; to launch; to eject (from a plane); to shoot
The closest CC-CEDICT match for catapult is 弹射 (tán shè), defined as: to catapult; to launch; to eject (from a plane); to shoot.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “catapult”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 弹弓 (彈弓) | dàn gōng | catapult; slingshot |
| 弩炮 (弩砲) | nǔ pào | catapult; ballista (siege catapult firing stone blocks) |
| 石弩 | shí nǔ | catapult; ballista (siege catapult firing stone blocks) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 弹射.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 炸弹 (炸彈) | zhà dàn | bomb; measure word: 枚 (méi), 颗 (kē) |
| 导弹 (導彈) | dǎo dàn | (guided) missile; measure word: 枚 (méi) |
| 子弹 (子彈) | zǐ dàn | bullet; measure word: 粒 (lì), 颗 (kē), 发 (fā) |
| 弹性 (彈性) | tán xìng | flexibility; elasticity |
| 弹药 (彈藥) | dàn yào | ammunition |
| 反弹 (反彈) | fǎn tán | to bounce; to bounce back |
| 发射 (發射) | fā shè | to shoot (a projectile); to fire (a rocket) |
| 辐射 (輻射) | fú shè | to radiate; radiation |
See also: Japanese symbol for “catapult”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.