<p>Usually, people use 炮.</p>

<p>According to the dictionary [http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/] : 砲</p>

<blockquote>
  <ol>
  <li>同「炮」。 <strong>(砲 is the same with 炮)</strong></li>
  </ol>
</blockquote>

<p>We can say 砲火連天/炮火連天, 砲響/炮響, 馬後砲/馬後炮, 弩砲/弩炮, 開砲/開炮. Boths are acceptable and interchangeable.</p>

<hr>

<p>炮's meaning involves fire but 砲's meaning involves stone.</p>

<p>The early cannonballs (sling) were made by stone, so people use 砲 to describe it.
With the time past, fire was much counted so 炮 was derived from 砲 to describe gunpowder and the bullets. Therefore, 炮 appears and become more commonly used. 
You can find some relevant sentences in the ancient chinese books:</p>

<pre><code>【集韻】【韻會】【正韻】披敎切，拋去聲。俗作"砲"(name as 砲)。機石也(are just the stones of a slinging machine)。
 About the slinging machine : 
【前漢·甘延壽傳】投石(sling)拔距絕於等倫。
【張晏曰】《范蠡兵法》:飛石(flying stone)重十二斤，爲機發(from a machine)，行二百步，礮蓋出此。
【後漢·袁紹傳】曹操(Cao cao)發石車(slinging machine)擊袁紹，軍中呼霹靂車。【註】卽今拋車。
【魏略曰】諸葛亮(Zhuge Liang)起衝車，郝昭以繩連石磨壓之，衝車折，卽礮事。
【唐書·李密傳】以機發石(sling a stone by a machine)，爲攻城械(is a machine for attacking)，號「將軍礮」。又通作「拋」(commonly used as "throw")。
</code></pre>

<hr>

<pre><code>明朝方以智《通雅》: 「象棋始於唐，周武之《象經》，非今之象戲也。」
.................: Xiangqi is from Tang Dynasty...............
From Wikipedia : 象棋 (chinese chess / Xiangqi)
</code></pre>

<p>Gunpowder is also from that time but slinging machines were still used in military aspect. Therefore, 砲 was used in Xiangqi until now.</p>

<hr>

<p>In fact, not every Chinese can tell the difference between them. Nowadays, people are more familiar with 炮. So if you write 砲, some people may think it's not so proper.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-15T06:20:26.647Z
2013-11-15T11:23:50.010Z
2013-11-15T11:23:50.010Z
Joshua LI
<p><strong>砲 is only used in Weapon</strong><br>
1  "砲彈"(bullet).</p>

<p><strong>炮 has many usage/meanings</strong>        </p>

<p>1 same as 砲,so u also can say "炮彈"<br>
2 Firecracker  ->"鞭炮","炮竹"<br>
3 A Cooking Method.it means to stir-fry sth.  ->"炮羊肉"<br>
4 to concoct sth ->"炮製"</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-06T05:11:48.150Z
2013-11-06T05:11:48.150Z
Lily Yu
<p>First, people used 砲 in xiangqi before，then when people invented gunpowder, it changed to 炮。
Second, you are right, 砲 was used earlier than 炮， because 砲 does means "catapult"., and 炮 existed after gunpowder. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-01T04:50:37.057Z
`when people invented gunpowder, it changed to 炮` Please provide citation to justify your answer.
杨以轩
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-01T03:40:41.513Z
2013-11-01T03:40:41.513Z
TaraWordoor
<p>砲 is mangonel.</p>

<p>While 炮 is cannon (using gunpowder).</p>

<p>石=stone, 火=fire.</p>

<p>In ancient Chinese, 炮(páo) means barbecue or a technique of preparing medicines or a cook-man. </p>

<p>Since the invention of gunpowder, 炮 had the same tone with 砲(pào).</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8n3Yr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8n3Yr.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<em>Mechanisms in Ancient Chinese Books with Illustrations</em>
by Kuo-Hung Hsiao and Hong-Sen Yan, p.108</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-01-26T10:37:19.543Z
2018-01-26T10:59:11.010Z
2018-01-26T10:59:11.010Z
Hao FU
<p><a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/1d/js/70AE.htm">炮</a> and <a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/1f/js/7832.htm">砲</a> both mean "cannon", but it seems the former is much more common, and the latter only really seen in Xiangqi.</p>

<ul>
<li>Is there a difference in meaning? For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi#Cannon">on wikipedia</a> it is said that 砲 means "catapult", due to the stone radical.</li>
<li>Was 砲 a made-up variant used for Xiangqi? I know that for Xiangqi, different characters were chosen, which sometimes lead to arbitrary choices (e.g. 傌 which has nothing to do with horses)</li>
<li>Or were there deeper historical reasons? For instance, it's hard to believe that 炮 existed before gunpowder, so it's plausible that 砲 was used earlier, to mean "catapult".</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-30T13:46:59.663Z
You can dig a little deeper when you look up 汉典. 礮(砲) is the one means "catapult"; but originally 炮 in 说文解字 was "毛炙肉也", like the usage of "炮烙", it may get the "cannon" meaning in the modern times, as in 康熙字典 it hadn't had this meaning yet.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-30T23:20:08.940Z
playing much chess?
grayQuant
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-31T03:19:18.240Z
Maybe have to trace back to the history of Chinese chess, gunpowder and cannon? In 汉典, it says (1) “炮”假借为“砲”.
杨以轩
<etymology><synonyms><glyph-origin>
What's the relationship between 炮 and 砲?
# What's the relationship between 炮 and 砲?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-10-30)

[炮](http://www.zdic.net/z/1d/js/70AE.htm) and [砲](http://www.zdic.net/z/1f/js/7832.htm) both mean "cannon", but it seems the former is much more common, and the latter only really seen in Xiangqi.

* Is there a difference in meaning? For example, [on wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi#Cannon) it is said that 砲 means "catapult", due to the stone radical.
* Was 砲 a made-up variant used for Xiangqi? I know that for Xiangqi, different characters were chosen, which sometimes lead to arbitrary choices (e.g. 傌 which has nothing to do with horses)
* Or were there deeper historical reasons? For instance, it's hard to believe that 炮 existed before gunpowder, so it's plausible that 砲 was used earlier, to mean "catapult".

**Tags:** etymology, synonyms, glyph-origin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You can dig a little deeper when you look up 汉典. 礮(砲) is the one means "catapult"; but originally 炮 in 说文解字 was "毛炙肉也", like the usage of "炮烙", it may get the "cannon" meaning in the modern times, as in 康熙字典 it hadn't had this meaning yet.  
> **username_2**: playing much chess?  
> **username_3**: Maybe have to trace back to the history of Chinese chess, gunpowder and cannon? In 汉典, it says (1) “炮”假借为“砲”.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-11-15. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Usually, people use 炮.

According to the dictionary [http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/] : 砲

> 1. 同「炮」。 **(砲 is the same with 炮)**

We can say 砲火連天/炮火連天, 砲響/炮響, 馬後砲/馬後炮, 弩砲/弩炮, 開砲/開炮. Boths are acceptable and interchangeable.

---

炮's meaning involves fire but 砲's meaning involves stone.

The early cannonballs (sling) were made by stone, so people use 砲 to describe it.
With the time past, fire was much counted so 炮 was derived from 砲 to describe gunpowder and the bullets. Therefore, 炮 appears and become more commonly used.
You can find some relevant sentences in the ancient chinese books:

```
【集韻】【韻會】【正韻】披敎切，拋去聲。俗作"砲"(name as 砲)。機石也(are just the stones of a slinging machine)。
 About the slinging machine : 
【前漢·甘延壽傳】投石(sling)拔距絕於等倫。
【張晏曰】《范蠡兵法》:飛石(flying stone)重十二斤，爲機發(from a machine)，行二百步，礮蓋出此。
【後漢·袁紹傳】曹操(Cao cao)發石車(slinging machine)擊袁紹，軍中呼霹靂車。【註】卽今拋車。
【魏略曰】諸葛亮(Zhuge Liang)起衝車，郝昭以繩連石磨壓之，衝車折，卽礮事。
【唐書·李密傳】以機發石(sling a stone by a machine)，爲攻城械(is a machine for attacking)，號「將軍礮」。又通作「拋」(commonly used as "throw")。

```

---

```
明朝方以智《通雅》: 「象棋始於唐，周武之《象經》，非今之象戲也。」
.................: Xiangqi is from Tang Dynasty...............
From Wikipedia : 象棋 (chinese chess / Xiangqi)

```

Gunpowder is also from that time but slinging machines were still used in military aspect. Therefore, 砲 was used in Xiangqi until now.

---

In fact, not every Chinese can tell the difference between them. Nowadays, people are more familiar with 炮. So if you write 砲, some people may think it's not so proper.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-11-06. Score: 1

**砲 is only used in Weapon**  
1 "砲彈"(bullet).

**炮 has many usage/meanings**

1 same as 砲,so u also can say "炮彈"  
2 Firecracker ->"鞭炮","炮竹"  
3 A Cooking Method.it means to stir-fry sth. ->"炮羊肉"  
4 to concoct sth ->"炮製"


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-11-01. Score: 0

First, people used 砲 in xiangqi before，then when people invented gunpowder, it changed to 炮。
Second, you are right, 砲 was used earlier than 炮， because 砲 does means "catapult"., and 炮 existed after gunpowder.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: `when people invented gunpowder, it changed to 炮` Please provide citation to justify your answer.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-01-26. Score: -1

砲 is mangonel.

While 炮 is cannon (using gunpowder).

石=stone, 火=fire.

In ancient Chinese, 炮(páo) means barbecue or a technique of preparing medicines or a cook-man.

Since the invention of gunpowder, 炮 had the same tone with 砲(pào).

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/8n3Yr.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/8n3Yr.jpg)
*Mechanisms in Ancient Chinese Books with Illustrations*
by Kuo-Hung Hsiao and Hong-Sen Yan, p.108


---

