船夫 (chuán fū) — boatman, ferryman | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

boatmanferryman

Measure word · 个

船夫。
Nà wèi lǎo chuán fū měi tiān zǎo chén dōu zhǔn shí dù hé.
That old boatman crosses the river punctually every morning.
船夫，。
chuán fū Chàng zhe hào zi, fèn lì huá zhe mù chuán.
The boatman sang a work song while rowing the wooden boat with effort.
船夫。
Zhè tiáo jiāng shàng de chuán fū dōu shì jīng yàn fēng fù de lǎo shǒu.
The boatmen on this river are all experienced hands.

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.

船 “boat” and 夫 “man” combine to mean a man who works on a boat.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

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.

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Appears in