船 (chuán): boat, vessel, ship
船 (chuán) is a Chinese character meaning “boat.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 舟 (semantic), 几 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #614 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 船 ship. Its radical form 舟 (boat) appears in many related characters such as 般 (bān, sort), 航 (háng, boat), 舰 (jiàn, warship).
Definitions
- boat
- vessel
- ship
Etymology & Origin
pictophoneticship
Decomposition: ⿰舟⿱几口 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 船 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 船
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 船长noun | chuán zhǎng | captain (of a boat) |
| 飞船noun | fēi chuán | spaceship |
| 船员noun | chuán yuán | sailor |
| 太空船noun | tài kōng chuán | spaceship |
| 划船verb | huá chuán | to row a boat |
| 帆船noun | fān chuán | sailboat |
| 小船noun | xiǎo chuán | boat |
| 沉船noun | chén chuán | shipwreck |
| 宇宙飞船noun | yǔ zhòu fēi chuán | spaceship |
| 船坞noun | chuán wù | dock |
| 开船verb | kāi chuán | to set sail |
| 船尾noun | chuán wěi | back end of a ship |
| 货船noun | huò chuán | cargo ship |
| 船舱noun | chuán cāng | hold of ship |
| 船头noun | chuán tóu | the bow or prow of a ship |
船 appears in 101 compound words: 44 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 1 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 船 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
船字的写法很特别，让我印象深刻。
chuán zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .
The character for "boat" is written in a very distinctive way, which left a deep impression on me.
消除“黄牌”警告:广宁省提前完成渔船捕捞许可发放工作
xiāo chú huáng pái jǐng gào : guǎng nìng shěng tí qián wán chéng yú chuán bǔ lāo xǔ kě fā fàng gōng zuò
Eliminate "yellow card" warning: Quang Ninh province has completed the issuance of fishing vessel fishing licenses ahead of schedule
正穿越边境!美军再空袭运毒船 3人被击毙
zhèng chuān yuè biān jìng ! měi jūn zài kōng xí yùn dú chuán 3 rén bèi jī bì
Crossing the border! The U.S. military launched another air raid on a drug transport ship, killing three people
商业船舶正从全球各地驶往伊朗港口
shāng yè chuán bó zhèng cóng quán qiú gè dì shǐ wǎng yī lǎng gǎng kǒu
Commercial ships are sailing from all over the world to Iranian ports
搭完邮轮有“离船症候群”?30-60岁女性最常见
dā wán yóu lún yǒu lí chuán zhèng hòu qún ? 3 0 6 0 suì nǚ xìng zuì cháng jiàn
After a cruise, "disembarkation syndrome" is most common among women aged 30-60
8岁男童命丧花莲鲤鱼潭!家属控快艇“船尾浪”酿祸 交通部回应了
8 suì nán tóng mìng sāng huā lián lǐ yú tán ! jiā shǔ kòng kuài tǐng chuán wěi làng niàng huò jiāo tōng bù huí yīng le
An 8-year-old boy died in Hualien Liyu Pond! The family controlled the speedboat's "stern waves" to cause trouble, and the Ministry of Communications responded
船和火车哪个跑得快？
Chuán hé huǒchē nǎge pǎo de kuài?
Which goes faster, a ship or a train?
船上有多少艘救生艇？
Chuán shàng yǒu duōshao sōu jiùshēngtǐng?
How many lifeboats are on this ship?
汽笛声响起，船开始慢慢地驶离港口。
Qìdí shēngxiǎng qǐ, chuán kāishǐ mànmàn de shǐlí gǎngkǒu.
A whistle blew, and the boat slowly began to pull out of port.
我想要一艘船带我远离这里。
Wǒ xiǎngyào yī sōu chuán dài wǒ yuǎnlí zhèli.
I want a boat that'll take me far away from here.
Character Family
舟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the boat radical
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 船 (chuán)?
Is 船 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 船 with real-time feedback
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