敌舰 (dí jiàn) — enemy warship | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

enemy warship

Measure word · 艘

Examples

敌舰。
Wǒ jūn chéng gōng jī chén le sān sōu dí jiàn.
Our forces successfully sank three enemy warships.
敌舰。
Léi dá fā xiàn qián fāng yǒu yì sōu dí jiàn zhèng zài kào jìn.
Radar detected an enemy warship approaching from ahead.
敌舰。
Lì shǐ shàng de zhè chǎng hǎi zhàn shuāng fāng dōu sǔn shī le duō sōu dí jiàn.
In this historical naval battle, both sides lost multiple enemy warships.

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.

舰jiànwarship

敌 means enemy and 舰 means warship, giving an enemy warship.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 敵; 敌 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攴攴pūto tap; to hit

Sound part声符shēngfú

啻

啻chì敵dí

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 敵 pairs 啻 as a sound part with 攴, a part for tapping or hitting.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 艦; 舰 is its simplified writing.

舟監艦

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

監

監jiān艦⁰jiàn

Same sound today

The traditional form 艦 pairs 舟 (boat) with 監 to give the sound; the simplified 舰 is a shorthand and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Appears in

Military & Defense

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.