乘船 (chéng chuán) — to take a boat / ship; to travel by boat

Definition

A fixed verbal phrase meaning 'to travel by boat' — 乘 specifies the vehicle/mode of travel. Compared with 坐船, 乘船 sounds more formal and written.

verb
to take a boat / shipto travel by boat

Examples

  • 乘船
    Wǒ men míng tiān chéng chuán qù dà lián.
    We will take a boat to Dalian tomorrow.
  • Tā zhè bèi zi zhī chéng guò yí cì chuán.
    He has only taken a boat once in his life.
  • 乘船
    chéng chuán Lǚ xíng suī rán màn, dàn kě yǐ kàn dào hǎi shàng de fēng jǐng.
    Traveling by boat is slow, but you can see the scenery on the sea.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

乘 was drawn as a person climbing a tree, with the feet visible.

Open 乘 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
zhōuboat
Sound part声符shēngfú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

船 pairs 舟 (boat) with 㕣 for its sound.

Open 船 →

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