同船 (tóng chuán) — shipmate | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

shipmate

Examples

同船。
Tā shì wǒ de tóng chuán.
He is my shipmate.
同船。
Wǒ men liù gè rén shì yì tiáo chuán de tóng chuán.
The six of us are shipmates on the same boat.
同船。
Wǒ men yì qǐ zài chuán shàng gōng zuò de shí hou shì tóng chuán.
We were shipmates when we worked together on the ship.

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.

同 (same) and 船 (ship) point to people sharing a ship.

Characters in this word

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

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.

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