弘

• Physical/Quantitative: To enlarge, expand, or widen.
• Dissemination: To spread, promote, or project (e.g., promoting a doctrine or spreading a reputation).
• Moral/Intellectual: Broad-mindedness or magnanimity; the opposite of 狹 (narrow/petty).

• Verb (Transitive): To expand or promote something (e.g., a policy, teaching, or boundary).
• Adjective: Describing a quality of vastness or a disposition of generosity and breadth.

• vs. 廣 (guǎng): While both mean "broad," 廣 typically describes a state of being wide, whereas 弘 often implies the action of making something wide or the result of that extension.
• vs. 宏 (hóng): Frequently interchangeable in later texts. In earlier contexts, 弘 retains a stronger association with stretching and extension, while 宏 leans toward volume, grandeur, or magnificence.

• Tang-period reading: huəng (Fanqie: 胡肱).

• The glyph is derived from the mechanism of the bow (弓), suggesting expansion as a process of tension or reach rather than static size.

Avoid translating 弘 simply as "big" or "large," as the glyph typically implies reach or extension. When applied to character, prefer "magnanimous" or "broad-minded"; when applied to ideas or influence, consider "disseminating," "promoting," or "extending."