友舰 (yǒu jiàn) — friendly ship; friendly vessel (especially in military or naval context)

Definition

noun
friendly shipfriendly vessel (especially in military or naval context)
Measure word · 艘

Examples

  • 友舰。
    Nà sōu yǒu jiàn zhèng zài kào jìn wǒ men de gǎng kǒu.
    That friendly ship is approaching our port.
  • 友舰。
    Zhǐ huī guān yǐ jīng yǔ yǒu jiàn qǔ dé le lián xì.
    The commander has already made contact with the friendly vessel.
  • 友舰。
    Wǒ men de yǒu jiàn hù wèi zhe zhè zhī jiàn duì.
    Our friendly warship is escorting this fleet.

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.

友yǒufriendly
舰jiànwarship

友 means friendly, and 舰 means warship; together they name a vessel on one's own side.

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.

友 is drawn as two 又, the hand form, side by side. The old explanation says two hands together mean friendship.

Open 友 →

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
舟舟zhōu
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.

Open 舰 →

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