Archery – Terms

Before taking a bow into the hand and throwing an arrow towards the target, it’s mandatory to learn a few terms in the field of archery for grasping little knowledge about the game and its features.

  • Anchor Point − The point to be touched by the string before releasing the arrow.

  • Archer’s Paradox − The effect generated by flexing of an arrow when it leaves the bow.

  • Bow fishing − Using archery to catch fish.

  • Bow hunting − Implementing archery in hunting and the practising of hunting.

  • Broadhead − A sharp-bladed hunting head attached to an arrow.

  • Bullseye − The centre of a target, for which hitting scores maximum points.

  • Clout Archery − A discipline in archery to shoot at a flag. The closer arrow scores maximum points.

  • Crest − Marking on an arrow used for design or identification.

  • Crown − The nock end of the arrow where it is coloured.

  • Daikyu − Term used by Japanese for longbow.

  • Drawing − The pulling of the bowstring to an extreme stretch.

  • Dry loosing − To loosen the string without an arrow, causing damage to the bow.

  • End − A round in which arrows are shot.

  • English Longbow − A powerful bow during medieval period.

  • Field tip − Head for practising against the targets.

  • Fistmele − A good distance or the balancing height between the bowstring and bow handle.

  • Flu-flu arrow − A short range arrow that was specially designed for practising.

  • Footed arrow − An arrow along with a shaft of two types of wood.

  • Game − Wild animals hunted for sport or food.

  • Gungdo − A practise followed in Korea for the archery game.

  • Hen feather − Name for shaft feather which was misunderstood for cock feather.

  • Horse archer − An archer sitting on a horse.

  • Index fletching − A coloured fletch for indication of proper alignment of arrows.

  • Judo point − A target and also a small game head designed with springs for a better location.

  • Kisser − Button indicating vertical distance while a bow is drawn.

  • Limb − Lower and upper arms of a bow.

  • Longrod − Rod on the bow attached to sustain vibrations.

  • Mongolian Draw − To draw a bow using the thumb.

  • Nock − To set an arrow to a bow.

  • Overdraw − The situation when the bow is too large for the bow string.

  • Plunger/ Pressure Button − Device for correcting the flex of an arrow during its release.

  • Poisons − Toxics added to arrow heads to enhance the hunting impact.

  • Quarrel − Also known as a bolt, it is a crossbow projection.

  • Recurve bow − A bow, where the unstrung tips curve farther from the archer.

  • Release − To relax the drawing hand fingers to free the arrow.

  • Riser − The section for handling the bow.

  • Safety arrow − Wide tip or padded head arrow, generally used for re-enactment.

  • Self-bow − Bow made of single material.

  • Shaft − The most important of all structural parts in an arrow.

  • Spine − Stiffness in the shaft of an arrow with flex contraction.

  • Stave − Wooden material used in making a bow.

  • Tab − This leather latch is worn for the protection of fingers.

  • Target archery − From different distances, shooting a steady target.

  • Target shooting − A competition of using projectile weapons for testing expertise in archers.

  • Tip − Top end of the bow, differentiated from arrow point.

  • Upshot − The archery contest’s last shot.

  • Vane − The fin of an arrow that stabilises the motion.

  • Wand shoot − Event where players shoot arrows at soft wooden slat of 6’ tall and 2’’ wide.

  • Yumi − A Japanese bow, mostly asymmetric, and consists of both short and long types.