木船 (mù chuán) — wooden boat | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

wooden boat

Measure word · 艘

Examples

木船。
Zhè sōu mù chuán yǐ jīng yǒu shàng bǎi nián de lì shǐ le.
This wooden boat has a history of over a hundred years.
木船。
Xiàn zài de chuán dà duō bú shì mù chuán le.
Most boats nowadays are not wooden boats.
木船。
Wǒ men zuò mù chuán qù hú duì àn yóu lǎn.
We took a wooden boat to tour the opposite shore of the lake.

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.

木 means wood, and 船 means boat; together they refer to a boat made of wood.

Characters in this word

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

木 is drawn as a tree, with branches above and roots below.

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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