引

Compound character:

弓 (“bow”) — symbolizes drawing force.

丨 (“line, vertical stroke”) — variously interpreted as the bowstring or as a symbolic mark for pulling.

In bronze inscriptions (金文 jinwen), the form shows a bow with an added tail-like stroke, indicating the drawing of the bowstring.

By the seal script (篆書) stage, the form standardized into 弓 + 丨, which remains the modern structure.

Sometimes classified as ideogrammic compound (picturing the act of pulling a bow) or indicative (弓 + auxiliary line).

引力 (인력) — attraction, gravity

引用 (인용) — quotation, citation

引導 (인도) — to guide, to lead

引退 (인퇴) — to retire, withdraw

長引 (장인) — to prolong, drag out

In classical Chinese, often used in the sense “to pull, to lead along.”

Figuratively extended to 引人 (“to attract people”), 引證 (“to adduce evidence”).

Related: 弔 (“to hang, to condole”), which also derives from the bow + auxiliary strokes but developed a different meaning.