商船 (shāng chuán) — merchant ship, merchant vessel

Definition

noun
merchant shipmerchant vessel
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 商船
    Zhè sōu shāng chuán zhǔ yào yùn shū shí yóu hé tiān rán qì.
    This merchant ship mainly transports oil and natural gas.
  • 商船
    Gǔ dài shāng chuán yán zhe sī chóu zhī lù háng xíng dào dōng nán yà.
    Ancient merchant ships sailed along the Silk Road to Southeast Asia.
  • 商船
    Gǎng kǒu tíng mǎn le lái zì gè guó de shāng chuán.
    The port is full of merchant ships from various countries.

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.

商 means trade and 船 means ship, so the ship is for trade.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 商 →

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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