帆船 (fān chuán) — sailboat | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

帆船 is the whole vessel — a sailboat. 帆 is just the sail itself, a part of the boat, not the boat.

noun

sailboat

Measure word · 艘

Examples

帆船。
Wǒ cháng cháng qù hǎi shàng zuò fān chuán.
I often go out to sea on a sailboat.
帆船。
Zhè sōu fān chuán shì tā zì jǐ zuò de.
This sailboat was made by himself.
帆船。
Hǎi biān yǒu hěn duō fān chuán.
There are many sailboats by the seaside.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

帆 means sail, and 船 means boat; together they describe a boat propelled by sails.

Characters in this word

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

巾凡帆

Meaning part形符xíngfú

巾巾jīncloth

Sound part声符shēngfú

凡

凡fán帆fān

Same sound today

帆 pairs 巾 (cloth) with 凡, which gives the sound fán.

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

舟舟zhōuboat

Sound part声符shēngfú

㕣

㕣㕣船

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Boats & Water Travel

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