射手座 is the Chinese and Japanese way to write Sagittarius (archer) of western astrology.

See Also:  Chinese Zodiac

射手 means archer, shooter, or marksman in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.

Depending on the context, it can also mean “goal-getter” in Chinese. This would also be the word for a bowman.

射手 is modern in Asia, meaning that it's only been in use for a few hundred years. However, the more ancient version of the archer is often not even recognized by the current generation of Chinese and Japanese people.

The first character means “shoot” or “fire” (in the context of a gun or bow). It's also a suffix for radioactive things (in the context of chemistry) - radioactive things “fire off” electrons. In Japanese, the first Kanji is a short name and suffix for archery.

The second character means “hand,” but the hand can also mean a person, in the same way, that a “farmhand” is a person in English.

弋人 is the ancient way to write archer in both Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

If you carried a bow into battle in an army of ancient Asia, this would be your title.

Note: 弋人 is an antiquated term that is rarely used in modern Chinese, Korean or Japanese. Beyond archer, this can also mean a ceremonial hunter in Japanese.

Note: This title is so old, that most Asian people will not recognize this as a normal word. It has not been in regular use for many generations.

弓箭手 is how to write “archer” in modern Chinese.

弓箭手 literally means “bow arrow hand.”

There are other ways to write “archer” in Chinese, but this is probably the most common title for modern China. The other, less-common version of “archer” is also more universal because it has the same meaning in Japanese (this one is not used in Japan).