bowstring

English

Etymology

bow +‎ string

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊstɹɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊstɹɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: bow‧string

Noun

bowstring (plural bowstrings)

1. The string of an archer's bow.
2. (historical) The string of an archer's bow, as used by the Turks for strangling offenders.

Derived terms

• (string of an archer's bow): bowstring bridge, bowstring girder, bowstring hemp

Translations

string of an archer's bow

• Arabic: وَتَر‎ (ar) m (watar)
• Armenian: աղեղնալար (hy) (ałełnalar)
• Azerbaijani: kiriş
• Belarusian: цеціва́ f (cjecivá)
• Bulgarian: тетива́ f (tetivá)
• Cahuilla: 'alxawill
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弓弦 (zh) (gōngxián), 弦 (zh) (xián)

• Czech: tětiva (cs) f
• Estonian: vibunöör
• Finnish: jänne (fi)
• French: corde (fr) f
• German: Bogensehne f
• Greek:

  Ancient: νευρά f (neurá)

• Hindi: ज्या (hi) f (jyā), प्रत्यंचा (hi) (pratyañcā)
• Hungarian: íjhúr (hu)
• Icelandic: bogastrengur m
• Japanese: 弓弦 (ゆづる, yuzuru, ゆみづる, yumizuru, ゆんづる, yunzuru), 弦 (ja) (つる, tsuru)
• Kazakh: адырна (adırna)
• Korean: 궁현 (gunghyeon), 활줄 (hwaljul)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ژێ‎ (jê)

  Northern Kurdish: jih (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жаанын жиби (caanın cibi)
• Macedonian: тетива f (tetiva)
• Middle Persian: 𐭦𐭩𐭧‎ (zīh)
• Mongolian: хөвч (mn) (hövč)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: buestreng m

• Persian: زه‎ (fa) (zeh)
• Plautdietsch: Boageseid f
• Polish: cięciwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: corda de arco f
• Romanian: coardă (ro) f
• Russian: тетива́ (ru) f (tetivá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тетива f

  Roman: tetiva (sh) f

• Slovak: tetiva f
• Slovene: tetiva f
• Spanish: cuerda (es) f
• Telugu: అల్లె (te) (alle)
• Tocharian B: wäntalyi
• Turkish: kiriş (tr), yay kiriş
• Tuvan: кириш (kiriş)
• Ukrainian: тятива́ f (tjatyvá)
• Uzbek: kamalak ipi
• Vietnamese: dây cung

Verb

bowstring (third-person singular simple present bowstrings, present participle bowstringing, simple past and past participle bowstrung or bowstringed)

1. (transitive) To strangle with a bowstring.
   • 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade":

     When the day broke […] it was high time for her to get up and be bowstrung—a thing very little more pleasant than hanging, only a trifle more genteel.