Amazing Chinese Characters (38) Arrow - 矢

The shell bone script of character Arrow is

just like an arrow, sharp and hard.

Its bronze script is

A sharp arrow head, and forked tail. The middle big dot is not clear. Some people believe that is for distinguishing it from character Across - 交

What I think is that the dot is an indicative for the arrow body as an object, not like Across is an adjective from a person's posture of two legs.

Its big seal script is

Similar to the shell bone script.

Its small seal script is

still like arrow, just a little bit round, not as sharp as Shell Bone script.

Its clerical script is

changed too much to be like an arrow anymore, the pictography is damaged.

The current standard printing script for traditional or simplified character is

矢

same as the clerical script.

Its Pinyin is "Shi3".