引っ張る
ひっぱる · hipparu · JLPT N3 · verb-godan
to pull
🪢 引く hiku (pull) + 張る haru (stretch) = hipparu, pull it taut
Two verbs fuse: hiku + haru becomes hipparu, and the small っ doubles the p. It also has a figurative sense: チームを引っ張る means to lead a team, and 話を引っ張る means to drag a story out.
引 — bow 弓 + vertical stroke 丨
A compound ideograph showing a bow 弓 with a vertical line 丨 representing the drawn bowstring. The original meaning was 'to draw a bow,' which extended to 'pull,' 'lead,' 'guide,' and 'cite.' The vertical stroke depicts the action of pulling the string back.